The Crowning Circle

by Lankford J. R.

The Crowning Circle takes place in an imaginary mid-sized town called Chatsford, Ohio. "Doc" Skeet Cullum, is a forensic psychologist who helps detectives in the city's homicide department. Skeet has a strange theory about death which he uses to unravel tough cases. Jake, Skeet's friend, is an inventor-engineer who owns a company called Solutions, Inc. On Thursdays, they get together at Jake's house to play guitar. The book opens on the morning of one of these Thursdays as three violent deaths - one a murder without apparent motive - occur. News of the first interrupts Skeet's proposal to his girlfriend of seven years. That night it's obvious to Jake that Skeet, usually stoic, is deeply upset. In the next four days, personal and public calamities fall like dominoes as the formerly reclusive Jake sets out to help Skeet, without telling him. Their friendship withstands all strain until Jake tries to penetrate Skeet's inscrutable facade - under which, Jake finally suspects, is something crucial. He is right.

388 pages, Paperback

First published February 2, 2001