"The Pickett Factor"

by Billy Ray Chitwood

A novel inspired by true events but fictionalized in its narrative... Some strange criminal elements are at work in the small town of Mackland, PA: a Mackland patrol officer is ambushed and murdered in 2013; a mother and common law wife goes missing in 2015; the missing woman's father is killed in a hunting accident in 2016 (was he getting too close to some truths about his daughter's disappearance?); a mother and daughter are brutally murdered in 2014 - the mother's & daughter's throats are slashed, then shot separately in their bedrooms (the daughter went to high school with the missing woman's daughter); at least two drug gangs operate in the small town, brazenly attacking citizens and bragging about bigger crimes they've committed...there's more, and the town has only 11,000 + population. The lovely town of Mackland has historic eminence and receives thousands of visitors every year.Attorney at Law Brady Pickett of neighboring large city of Graniteville, PA, only twenty minutes from Mackland, takes up the gauntlet after a young man phones from prison to tell Pickett he has been 'railroaded' with false drug charges and murder charges are to be forthcoming. Brady Pickett visits the young inmate in Lewisburg and tapes the details of the young man's declaration of innocence and becomes a strong believer in the verity of the taped testimony. Along with his old college friend, now Chief of Police in Mackland, Ed Billups, and, along with JD Brewer, a seasoned special investigator and friend, the three men and those police officers that can be trusted, fight an uphill battle to relieve the small town of its urchins of evil. There is also a very likely connection to one or more of the bigger Pennsylvania cities in the drug business that has come to the small town.This novel has a lovely narrative flow with some well-placed levity and folksy humor, and the characters are drawn with some deft strokes of the pen. While at times tense and absorbing, it is also a delightful novel, all brought together by an author of sixteen other romance, mystery/suspense novels, and memoirs. It is a novel that mystery and suspense lovers will without doubt enjoy.

171 pages, ebook

Published October 26, 2018

About the author

- Graduate of Lycoming College (Williamsport, PA) - BA English

- Actor in film, stage, television

- Honorably and proudly served in the United States Navy

- Taught school (Advanced Writing)

- Worked in Sales and Marketing for major textbook publishers

- Owned and ran a business

- Author of 14 books, with one more in the oven

- Recently moved from The Sea of Cortez with wife, Julie Anne, and 'George' (a Bengal cat with some serious attitude). Now live in the bluegrass rolling hills of Kentucky.

-Writing is therapy for the soul.