New crime novel asks, 'What if assassins had agents?'
STROUDSBURG, Pa., Nov. 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- A doctor wants to euthanize his terminal patients. A disgraced journalist wants a better job than flogging tours of crime scenes. The tour business is dying. There aren't enough murders in this sleepy town to draw a crowd.
A good serial killer would help.
So begins Mr. Mayhem, the new crime thriller from Pennsylvania native and Florida resident Jeff Widmer, journalist and author of Peak Season, a novel Kirkus Reviews calls "an entertaining mystery romp."
For a man known only as Brinker, the trouble starts when he's fired for reporting his publisher's DUI. Reduced to doing PR for a funeral home and its trolley tour of murder sites, Brinker despairs of ever restoring his career, his pride or his bank account. Compared to journalism, PR feels like degradation, an excuse to lie for a living. His addiction to prescription medication only fuels that rage.
When his doctor asks for a hand in dispatching hopeless patients, Brinker hires a wildly successful assassin named Angel, who brings chaos and fame to this sleepy town. But as Angel's demands soar with the body count, Brinker wonders whether he'll become the latest addition to his own list.
"Mr. Mayhem turns the suspense genre on its head," Widmer said. "Fans of Elmore Leonard and Gillian Flynn will enjoy the double- and triple-crosses that give the book its dark edge."
Mr. Mayhem is set in the snowy mountains of Northeast Pennsylvania. Published by Allusion Books, the novel is available through Amazon, iTunes, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and jeffwidmer.com.
As a journalist with Dow Jones/Ottaway, Widmer covered construction of America's first space shuttle and broke the story of the nationwide independent truckers' strike.
He is the author of the CW McCoy crime series set in Southwest Florida as well as several works of nonfiction, including the Spirit of Swiftwater and Riding with the Blues, a behind-the-scenes look at the Sarasota (Florida) Police Department. His articles have appeared in publications ranging from National Geographic World to US Airways to Advertising Age.
His blog about the writing life appears regularly at jeffwidmer.com.
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SOURCE Allusion Books
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