The Blood of Tyrants
Non-series
Peter
S. Fischer
Grove Point Press (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-615-32455-X (061532455X)
ISBN-13: 978-0-615-32455-5 (9780615324555)
Publication Date: October 2009
List Price: $15.95
Synopsis (from
the publisher): A crowded restaurant in Washington, D.C. A powerful
Congressman is lunching with a wealthy contributor who suddenly rises
and shoots the Congressman dead in front of a hundred witnesses.
Quietly, he resumes his seat, placing the gun on the table as he awaits
the authorities. Thus begins ten days of terror, ten days in which the
nation teeters on the brink of anarchy.
Inadvertently drawn into this murderous conspiracy is Paul Castle, a
once promising newspaper reporter, now the host of a third rate cable
show that deals in sleaze and scandal. Castle suddenly finds himself a
pawn in a series of bizarre murders that have gripped the nation in
fear. Secretly aided by an avuncular New York homicide detective and
hounded by an ambitious FBI agent, Castle seeks to get to the bottom of
the mystery and in the process, regain his lost self-respect. With the
future of the country at stake, he knows he cannot afford to fail.
Review: Peter S.
Fischer, the creator/producer of the classic television series Murder, She Wrote, takes on the
Washington political establishment in his first novel, the murder
mystery thriller The Blood of Tyrants.
Disgraced reporter Paul Castelli has reinvented himself as Paul Castle,
host of National Heartbeat, a cable television show that exists less to
report the news than to make it. In what can only be described as the
story of his career -- any reporter's career -- he inadvertently
stumbles into the middle of a political firestorm that will soon rock
the nation: the murders, some staged as accidents, of over a dozen of
the country's most powerful representatives. Followed by homicide
detective Aaron Kovacs and FBI agent Fowler Briggs, Castle tries to
keep one step ahead of the authorities in an effort to put an end to
the killings that are terrorizing the country.
The plot in The Blood of Tyrants
is clearly satirical so it is easy to overlook how preposterous it is.
Still, conspiracy theorists among any number of political groups will
no doubt find something to pique their interest here. To be sure, the
plot moves along rapidly, the characters well-developed without being
too much like caricatures, and though the outcome is fairly predictable
(the whodunit aspect is never in doubt), the path there is exciting
nonetheless. The author, a familiar name in crime dramas, adds a little
humor here and there with references to TV shows; here's a passage when
Castle hits New York City to learn more about the murders: It all looked so easy on television when
Rockford did it, or Kojak or Columbo. Nose around, ask a few questions,
wave a few Andrew Jacksons about and the information spilled forth like
water over Hoover Dam. Somehow these guys missed the Westin Hotel in
midtown Manhattan. The way people were eyeing him, you'd think he was
there to steal the silverware.
The reading experience is marred to some extent by rather sloppy
editing, mostly typesetting issues, but also numerous misspelled words
and missing punctuation. For an experienced screenwriter of this
caliber, it seems incongruous in his debut novel.
Special thanks to Grove Point Press for providing a copy of The Blood of Tyrants for this review.
Review Copyright © 2010 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read The Blood of Tyrants? How would you rate it?
Novels by this author …
The Blood of Tyrants
Grove Point Press (Trade Paperback), October 2009
ISBN-10: 0-615-32455-X (061532455X)
ISBN-13: 978-0-615-32455-5 (9780615324555)
Omnimystery keywords for The Blood of Tyrants ...
Location(s) referenced: Washington DC.
