The Art of Murder

by Fred Lichtenberg

"A fast-paced, fascinating mystery. Readers will find themselves rooting for Hank, as he struggles with murder and his own personal crisis, to save his beloved town and himself from imploding. Highly recommended." ~Alice Duncan, author of Angel’s Flight

--Present Day - Long Island, New York, and New York City--

When syndicated romance columnist John Hunter is found dead from an apparent overdose, the townspeople of the sleepy hamlet of Eastpoint accept the outsider's death in stride, until Police Chief Hank Reed discovers a secret room filled with lewd paintings featuring local married women.

Now faced with a town full of suspects, Hank is investigating a crime no one wants solved when a second murder points to his own wife as prime suspect.

His marriage crumbling, the townspeople enraged, and a murderer willing to kill to protect everyone's dignity, Hank Reed is face-to-face with a crisis he may not survive.

". . . a novel with bizarre twists and turns that keeps you turning pages. His smooth writing style and use of humor makes for a great read!" ~Judy Lucas, author of The Good Assassin

". . . tears apart small-town life on Long Island with murder and scandalous secrets that could destroy more than one resident. The shocking ending is anything but "small town"." ~Michael Haskins, author of Chasin’ the Wind and Free Range Institution

The Hank Reed Mystery Series
The Art of Murder
Murder on the Rocks
Mental Case

256 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 6, 2019

About the author

Fred Lichtenberg is a native New Yorker who lives with his wife in Jupiter, Florida. He has one son. After spending a career as a Field Agent with the IRS, Lichtenberg changed gears from crunching numbers to creating fictitious villains and heroes. Hunter’s World, was released by Five Star Publishing in 2011. The murder of an outside celebrity living in a small community on Long Island, creates havoc when dirty little secrets are about to be exposed, in this psychological suspense thriller.
Double Trouble (2013) — Mistaken identity grips this thriller when an identical twin separated at birth, enters a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the mob.
Deadly Heat at The Cottages: Sex, Murder, and Mayhem (2014) — Lichtenberg changed gears once more to write a humorous South Florida story with a wacky host of characters all living in a retirement community, where people are literally dying to move in.
Okay, one more switch! After three published murder mysteries, Lichtenberg turned his attention to retirement. During his research, he discovered many people approaching or in retirement don’t have a plan. Though humorous, Retired: Now What? (2015), addresses many serious issues.
Back to murders. Murder 1040: The Final Audit (a Freddie Award finalist) is an action-packed suspense thriller that plunges readers into the complex realm of one of America's most shrouded government agencies. The murder of an IRS agent in the West Palm Beach, Florida, office triggers a desperate scramble to protect dark secrets within the agency. When those in power shut down the murder investigation, one man risks everything to find the killer and resolve his own mysterious past. Lichtenberg uses his insider knowledge from over thirty years in the IRS to craft a brilliant page-turner filled with love, sex, greed and a whole lot more.
And now, Fred is working on his second in a Hank Reed series from his novel Hunter’s World. Welcome back Hank!
In addition to writing mystery novels, Fred has written shorts stories and a one-act play titled The Second Time Around … Again, about finding love in a nursing home, at the Lake Worth Playhouse.
Fred is an active member of the Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers.
Contact Fred:
www.fredlichtenberg.com
www.whitestonebridgepress.com
www.amazon.com/Fred-Lichtenberg/e/B00...
www.facebook.com/fredlichtenberg

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the last five years former homicide detective Hank Reed has been the chief of police in Eastpoint, New York (Pop. 400-ish). Eastpoint is a quaint little farming community that seems more akin to Mayberry than Peyton Place.

Then a murder exposes the secrets, fears, and paranoid insecurities that have been carefully hidden beneath the surface. Everybody in Eastpoint seems to be hiding something. The question is what are they hiding? And why?

Chief Reed is thrust into a scandalous investigation that no one wants... and he's finding out things that he really doesn't want to know.

First off, this is not a hardboiled mystery. I've seen several references that say it is one but it really isn't. Fans of true hardboiled stuff will likely be pretty disappointed if that's their sole criteria for choosing this book.

I found it to be more along the lines of a "guilty pleasure" type of read. A decent mystery with lots of schmaltz and melodrama that somehow comes together as a real page turner.

Unexpected plot twists, secret lives, love triangles, love quadrangles, and situations straight out of a soap opera handbook that just seems to work.

The Art of Murder is great mindless fun (I mean that in the best possible way). It does have adult content - language, sexual situations - but is fairly restrained all things considered. Don't go in expecting Fifty Shades of The Art of Murder or anything like that.

If you're in the mood for something different that will keep you guessing and turning pages but at the same time be almost completely forgotten within a week then give it a try.

***Thanks to NetGalley, INscribe Digital, and author Fred Lichtenberg for providing me with a free digital copy of this title in exchange for an honest review.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those old fashioned hardboiled detective stories. It’s full of the darker sides of human nature. However it is gripping and keeps you guessing what will possibly happen next?! Hank is a retired homicide detective now police chief in a small town where nothing ever happens until one night there’s a murder. Not just any murder the murder of a prominent and as you’ll discover highly duplicitous man Hank though was his friend. The characters are well written and come alive as you read and get caught up in the investigation. There’s a couple cliches Hank is a cop with a bad marriage. Also a seemingly clueless deputy. But other than a few minor details like that this is a definite winner!
I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily review this book. This is my honest review.

[Bev · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Art of Murder is a Hank Reed mystery. Hank is a small-town sheriff, who has a murder to solve that keeps adding more suspects the deeper he investigates. Then things hit home when his spouse is also involved. Well! Didn't see that coming! This story is so well written that before you even know it you are halfway done and don't want to stop reading it.
I truly enjoyed this story and looking forward to the next one. I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book from Booksprouts.

[Spicydish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow! What a complicated story with a myriad of characters! I stuck with the audiobook until the end, but by then I was exhausted from trying to remember the relationships between the characters who lived in Eastpoint, the bedroom community outside of New York City.
Hank Reed is the police chief of Eastpoint. He was formally a New York City homocide detective. Reed attempts to unravel the murder of his friend John Hunter, who is the current writer of a sex/romance column in the local paper. His past in NYC is unknown.
Despite finding a suicide note at the scene of Hunter’s death his autopsy reveals that he died of strychnine poisoning. Who would want to kill Hunter? Apparently the answer is all the female inhabitants of Eastpoint, as well as a couple of women he left behind in New York before fleeing the scandal of his inappropriate involvement with Carol Warner, a patient in his psychiatric practice in New York. The sexually mesmerizing Hunter left behind his wife, Maggie and former patient turned stalker, Carol. Upon investigating Hunter’s death by examining his home, police chief Hank discovers disturbing paintings of several women of Eastpoint in sexual and violent poses. Women had been ensnared by Hunter’s insatiable sexual appetite and irresistible seductive charm. Amongst the many paintings, one for each of his sexual conquests inEastpoint, was a picture of Susan Hank Reid‘s wife. Hank confronted Susan about his discovery. Susan vehemently denied having an affair with Hunter, but Hank has a hard time believing her. Their marriage has been rocky and sexless recently, and he suspected the cause was because she was having an affair with Hunter. She was actually receiving therapy as a genuine patient of Hunter’s. She sought therapy for her depression related to her inability to get pregnant. Hunter dispensed a lot of sexual healing , Marvin Gaye style, to the sexually frustrated women of Eastpoint, and believe you me, for a small town there were a boatload of sexually frustrated women in Eastpoint.
So the mystery is who killed Hunter?

[Teresa Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so glad I read book 2 in the series before this one or I might have missed a great series. This is a very good story with plenty of twists and turns but it's written in first person present (which I almost hate) and there is more explicit sex here than in the next book. I enjoyed the way Mr. Litchenberg throws out plenty of red herrings to keep the reader on their toes and guessing as to whom the perpetrator would wind up being. Most of the characters here are likable and relatable, even though Hank makes some rookie mistakes (leaving the crime scene unguarded, telling suspects more details than he should, etc.) which was surprising given his previous experience as a homicide detective. I think Mr. Lichtenberg showed a great detail of growth as an author between book 1 and book 2, so I'm looking forward to reading book 3, and hope there will be more to come.
I received a review copy from eBookDiscovery and this is my honest opinion.

[Cheryl Landmark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 3.5 Stars

[Celeste · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Art of Murder follows the story of Chief Reed as he investigates the death of his best friend and the secrets that are uncovered. I honestly have nothing bad to say about this book. I love the setting of a small-town murder. I think it naturally causes secrets to emerge that would have never come up otherwise. It also allows the characters to interact in a way they normally don’t. Lichtenberg does a great job of portraying that “small town” interaction through Chief Reed and the townspeople. I enjoyed the subject of interest within this mystery. Similar stories portray a mystery pertaining to gangs, drugs, or alcohol, which can be common, but sometimes overused. I loved the concept of how these lewd paintings play a big role in the storyline and the mystery as a whole. I would give this book a 5. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries with life-changing secrets.

I received this book from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily review this book. This is my honest review.

[Natty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the beginning of this novel but truly because of my own preference I would have liked a bit more on the actual "Art" in this murder mystery. That said, I did develop an affinity to Hank and his team even if they seemed a little inept. A book worth reading if not entirely thrilling.

#TheArtOfMurderAHankReedMysteryBook1 #NetGalley

[T Olsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mystery as well as a police procedural with police officers that are not the smartest. Well written, good plot and characters.
I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily post this review. This is my honest review.

[Suzzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very entertaining mystery. Characters were well defined and the plot was good. I received this book from ebooks discovery. I voluntarily give my review. This is my honest review