On My Honor

by Barbara D'Amato

Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Award-winning AuthorIn "On My Honor," Samantha Lawton, recently separated, is raising two sons by herself. Fortunately, they're in Boy Scouts, and, with no father in the house, she is glad they have positive male role models. After a series of fatal accidents, however, she starts having second thoughts -- and these second thoughts grow stronger after a Scout is seen in the area of another "accident." Determined to protect her children by getting to the bottom of things, Samantha soon finds herself in trouble. But she is not the only one concerned. Henry Ax, the chief of police, has also noticed what's been going on, but he's not so worried about protecting the Boy Scouts -- he's afraid that they might be the ones causing the accidents. Samantha has to learn who is doing this before her own sons end up as suspects -- or, worse, before they end up victims themselves.

Also includes the short story, "Steak Tartare."

Barbara D'Amato lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Genres: Mystery

390 pages, Hardcover

First published March 2, 2004

About the author

Aka Malacai Black

Barbara D'Amato has had a checkered career, working in the distant past as an assistant surgical orderly, carpenter for stage magic illusions, assistant tiger handler, stage manager, researcher for attorneys in criminal cases, and recently sometimes teaching mystery writing to Chicago police officers.

"Writing is the greatest job of all," D'Amato says. "I get to hang around with cops, go ask people questions about their jobs that I would be too chicken to ask without a reason, and walk around Chicago looking for good murder locales. Best of all, I get to read mystery and suspense novels and call it keeping up with the field."

She was the 1999-2000 president of Mystery Writers of America. D'Amato is also a past president of Sisters in Crime International.

D'Amato is a playwright, novelist, and crime researcher. Her research on the Dr. John Branion murder case formed the basis for a segment on "Unsolved Mysteries," and she appeared on the program. Her musical comedies, The Magic Man and children's musical The Magic of Young Houdini, written with husband Anthony D'Amato, played in Chicago and London. Their Prohibition-era musical comedy RSVP Broadway, which played in Chicago in 1980, was named an "event of particular interest" by Chicago magazine. A native of Michigan, she has been a resident of Chicago for many years.

Reviews

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book was a good read --except----there is child abuse in the book, but the way the abuser is let go is unacceptable. He is caught where there is no question about what he's doing, but the child (about 12 years old) wants no mention of it made so the other adults accept this, and tell the abuser not to do it anymore... And the child just goes on like everything is hunky-dory with the world....yeah, right!!!