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The Widowmaker
by 'Michael Manstar'
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©2009 Gene Cartwright
A serial killer with
an elaborate m.o. and macabre sense of humor is loose in LA. But this killer, who defies the FBI profile, is
unlike any the LAPD has ever encountered: The victims are prominent
married men, including a TV mega-evangelist, involved in adulterous
affairs. They and their lovers are found murdered by close range blasts
from a .44 magnum.
Even
jaded, veteran homicide cops are horrified by the brutality, intrigued
by the killer's consistency and baffled by the apparent amount of time
spent by the killer at the post-crime scene. What's more, this killer
has a penchant for 60's music, particularly Sam Cooke's 'Frankie and
Johnny.' Why? The work of vengeful wives?
Perhaps.
Someone wants the cops to think so. A battered police department
feuding with the FBI, slams into a brick wall.
Solution:
Call
John Roméo (he insists Ro-may-o). Roméo is a cocky, Harlem-born, Black,
41 year-old retired L.A.P.D. homicide whiz, turned multi-millionaire
Beverly Hills author and screenwriter. Some question his name, his
style, and his self-confidence that borders on cockiness, but no one
questions his expertise. You either love or hate Roméo; there is no
in-between. He has an eye for beauty and a nose for murder.
John's
former commander, Captain C.E. 'Bear' Nicholson, realizes there's no
love lost between John and his envious former comrades, but he's got no
choice. John, pressed by a producer to finish rewrites and by his
publisher to complete a manuscript, tries to say 'no' to the Captain.
His
friend, Skeeter, a salty LAPD veteran and John's mentor, warns him to
avoid the case. However, John realizes that his considerable ego and
his love of a challenge will prevail. He'll have one more chance to
prove he has no equal.
However,
the hunter becomes the hunted. Despite his choirboy facade, Roméo's no
saint. His live-in, French-Somalian fashion-model girlfriend, and his
recently divorced wife, Claire, both love him deeply and dislike each
other even more deeply.
Assaulted
by the tabloids, he is faced with the allure of the beautiful
psychologist, Dr. Diane Deauville, hired to assist him.. And now
someone wants him dead, but not before trying to discredit him. In the
end, neither John nor the city's power elite are prepared for what he
uncovers.
John
Roméo has many stories to tell. The WIDOWMAKER is just one of them.
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