America's leading mystery writers are being brutally murdered. Third-tier author Guy Davitt—a would-be Dashiell Hammett—stumbles upon the killer’s bizarre M.O. (the deaths are lifted from mystery novels). But Davitt cannot convince deeply skeptical police a "Sleuth Slayer" actually exists.

Through a dark labyrinth of film studio power brokers, publishing industry politics, a decadent family's wealthy influence, police immorality—as well as the dawning realization that he himself is on the killer's list—Davitt pursues the truth.

Sleuth Slayer is also available as an ebook on Amazon.com for the Kindle.

Although at the time Guy had dismissed Jax’s suspicions, he soon found himself placing more value in his friend’s beliefs. Shortly after their talk Jax was the victim of a fatal car crash on a twisting canyon road. Therefore, yet another mystery author was dead. After Guy pays his respects to the Thornton family, Jax’s father tells him that he is welcome to clean out Jax’s writing area and take whatever he wants. Guy uses this as an opportunity to see if he can find any evidence confirming Jax’s suspicions that there is a mystery-writer serial-killer out there.

To see what others think about the recent chain of events, Guy posts the information that he has in a mystery writers’ chat room. In the numerous responses to his post, he receives a rather unusual comment from someone he does not know with the user name of “Scythe.” “Scythe’s” coded, chilling comment infers that Guy is going to be one of the next victims. Soon after, another writer, Frances Whiting, shows up on Guy’s doorstep claiming that she too had almost been a murder victim as she was attacked on her yacht, but had escaped. Together they work to determine who is behind the serial slayings and to try to unravel the mystery.

As you can see in the quote at the beginning of my review, Burton and Burton are very talented at writing descriptive passages. Whether I wanted to or not, I could vividly picture what was growing inside of that coffee mug. This skillful writing combined with a strong plot will have you turning the pages in anticipation of what is coming next. There are many twists and turns throughout the book and just when you think you have it all figured out you will be proven wrong.

“Sleuth Slayer” is a fast-paced novel from start to finish with no dull moments in between. The writing is suspenseful and the characters are memorable. I think that any fan of the mystery genre will truly enjoy this book. I would love to see this novel become the beginning of a series and I look forward to reading more from the authors in the future.

June 22, 2008 - 1:30 to 4:30 pm - Brit's Pub - Nicollet Mall - Minneapolis, MN 55403

October 11, 2008 - 10:00 am -5:00 pm - Twin Cities Book Festival, Minneapolis Community and Technical College.