Five Fatal Shots: A Murder Mystery (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781977281005)

Five Fatal Shots is a MUST read for those who enjoy thrilling and intoxicating murder mysteries which keep us guessing as to who's behind these senseless and cowardly acts which so many of us enjoy reading about. Along with his other novels, including The Horry County Murders, Murder in Murrells Inlet, Confederate Gold and Silver, and One Brother's REVENGE, the author's principal protagonist, retired state trooper Paul Waring is again charged with having to solve a senseless and horrific crime. With little evidence to work with, Paul, assisted by his close friend, Captain Bobby Ray Jenkins, of the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office, and several other detectives, is called on to solve the brutal murders of five young men who have been found inside a home they have rented near the beach just south of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Not only have these victims been murdered, but the killer has set fire to the residence after shooting his last victim. In several different rooms, each of the victims have been found after a host of First Responders struggle to put out the fire that has been intentionally set. For several twisted reasons, the person responsible for these murders has set the house on fire; one of those reasons is especially sinister. He has done so in hopes the fire will not only consume any evidence accidentally left behind at the scene, but also to throw off the investigators who will soon start looking into this horrific event. In his mind, he also hopes the fire will be ruled as accidental, and that the investigators fail to determine each of the victims was shot to death prior to the fire being started.

With Captain Bobby Ray Jenkins, the commanding officer of the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office Major Case Squad, initially flat on this back after undergoing a recent back operation, and with his recently appointed assistant, Lieutenant Audrey Small, already showing signs she is not ready to assume responsibility of such a high-profile investigation, Paul Waring is brought in to manage this labor-intensive investigation. With little evidence to go on and with even fewer eyewitnesses, Paul is forced to start working this investigation the old-fashioned way. While DNA evidence will later play an important role in this investigation, he and his team of detectives must start pounding the pavement by conducting a series of interviews with a host of friends and family members who knew the victims. Those interviews include one with an unfriendly neighbor who has threatened to harm several of the victims in the past. Paul's biggest break comes when two of his detectives interview the homeowner several days after the murders were committed. During this interview, Paul's detectives learn of another fire that was intentionally set in the victims' backyard several weeks earlier.

But who set that fire, and for what purpose? Was it the same individual who shot and killed these five young men and set fire to their residence, or was it someone else? And why has Paul seen fit to bring his wife and a civilian employee from the sheriff's office into this investigation?

During the author's nearly three decades of serving as a state trooper, one of the most horrific investigations he supervised was the senseless murder of five young men. That tragic incident serves as the basis for this story.