Murder of the Prodigal Father: Connor Pierce Mystery Book 1

by Mark Wm Smith

Small town amateur sleuth Connor Pierce faces off with local law enforcement to solve the murder of his estranged father, uncovering a twisted web of deceit and danger.It's the Winter of '96 and Connor Pierce is forced to leave behind his failing marriage in the tropics to confront the demons of his past in his hometown. But burying his estranged father is just the beginning.

As he delves into the twisted details of Dixon Pierce's last moments, Connor realizes that his father's death was no accident. With small town law enforcement dismissing his claims, Connor is left to his own devices to solve the case. But can he trust his old high school classmates, now a local deputy and his former lover, to help him uncover the truth?

Navigating the murky waters of his family's dark secrets, Connor finds himself drawn into a dangerous game of cat and mouse. The closer he gets to the truth, the more he puts himself at risk. And when a sniper takes aim at him, Connor must fight to stay alive long enough to unmask the killer.

With sexual betrayals, buried secrets, and a legacy of philandering, the stakes couldn't be higher. Can Connor untangle the web of lies and deceit that surrounds him and bring his father's killer to justice? Or will he become the next victim of a family that will stop at nothing to protect their own?

Murder of the Prodigal Father is the first book in the Connor Pierce private investigator mystery suspense series. If you like amateur sleuths, domestic malice, honest characters and surprising twists, then you'll love Mark Wm Smith's page-turning mystery.

Join Connor Pierce on a journey of redemption, revenge, and ultimately, survival in this gripping murder mystery.

276 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 12, 2016

About the author

On occasion, Mark lived down the street from the last whorehouse in the West, spit dust from the end of a trail drive and stood beside the hardened lawmen facing down anarchist rebels.

He writes to make sense out of uncertainty. Reading mystery and suspense fiction kept him sane during his formative years. Writers in this genre gave order to the chaos of his world. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Lawrence Block, Ed McBain, Tony Hillerman. Louis L'Amour just to spice it up. They saved him from despair. The strength he found in the characters of Louis L'Amour's fiction inspired courage to stop running and face down that infamous bully, Bobby Brown, in front of the Sacred Heart Catholic School.

L'Amour and Hillerman set his mind on writing with place as character. Block encouraged focus on characters whose personal troubles deepened conflict. These and hundreds of other great authors pulled him into worlds defined by justice.

Mark earned a Master of Arts in Professional Counseling from Liberty University in 2010. A graduate level understanding of human behavior and psychology facilitates Mark's development of interesting characters facing impossible circumstances. These scenarios involve internal struggles manifested through external situations-- a man who can't stop sleeping around confronted with a woman who kills men who cheat; a kid who dreams of making his deceased father proud by stealing a prized guitar.

Mark received his undergrad degree in Creative Writing from Otterbein College in 2005, only 25 years after his high school graduation. A desire to tell stories like the ones that helped him survive a rickety adolescence and tottering early adulthood give Mark the means and motivation to grow as storyteller.

Striving for the most compelling tale, the most interesting, yet genuine characters, and the most relevant theme provides Mark the opportunity for creating stories that are both fresh and alive.

Reviews

[Icy_Space_Cobwebs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review of MURDER OF THE PRODIGAL FATHER
by Mark Wm Smith

Author Thomas Wolfe orated, “You can't go home again.” My response is:
“in some cases, whyever would you want to?” This would be the case with Connor Pierce, formerly of tiny Miles City, Montana. The man reaches adulthood despite his unpleasant father, enlists in the Air Force, becomes an airplane mechanic (memorizing every single tiny mistake that can crash a plane), lives on Okinawa, marries and fathers children (despite the fact in his own life of the Role Model of How Not To Parent). Eventually, Daddy dies. Supposedly, a heart attack, actually more mysterious—as in, what really happened? So Connor flies the 18-hour “endless” trip from Okinawa to Eastern Montana, falling right back into old flame, old friend, abused sister—and a whole bunch of nobody-wants-the-truth-revealed.

I give Author Smith a lot of credit for bringing this setting, and these characters alive. I didn't have to like them, but I surely did get “up close and personal” with them. MURDER OF THE PRODIGAL FATHER is a very vivid and sensory story.

[Rita · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as an ARC from the author. I enjoyed this book after finally getting interested in it. It’s a good bit too long with too much detail. Not enough action until the later parts. The characters are interesting but again rather boring. I think the main character spent too much time running around in his mother’s car instead of using his head a little more. It’s a great story just needs some fine tuning.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well written with interesting characters, it reminded me of an Anne Tyler novel... unfortunately, I'm not fond of Anne Tyler novels. I felt that this couldn't decide if it was a personal growth novel, a family history novel or a mystery novel. Any of the three of would have worked on their own, but the melding of all of them didn't quite work for me. I liked it enough to want to finish it, just wasn't fantastic.

[Bev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Connor Pierce leaves his family to deal with his father's death. When he looks into his father's death, he believes it was murder. Now he has to ask his friends that he left behind for their help. But in doing so, he puts himself in harms way to be possibly murdered. This is a very good story of a man that has to decide many things about his family. Things that are taboo.

[Tam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exciting, sexy and suspenseful. A full throttle thrill ride that will keep you on the edge of your seat right up until the end! This should be on your MUST Read List!

*I received a complimentary ARC of this book from NetGalley & BooksGoSocial in order to read and provide a voluntary, unbiased and honest review, should I choose to do so.

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