New Mystery Novel is Not a Garden Variety Detective Story...

Need something to curl up to next time you are relaxing out in a quiet cove? How about a mystery novel with a rather "novel" setting--a houseboat!

In his new novel, The Houseboat Murders, author Paul Wagner morphs a police procedural story into a broader slice-of-life tale involving a guilt-burdened father, his teenaged son, and a killer who masquerades as a high school student to avoid capture.

The reader is eyewitness to the triple homicide which launches the story. As the investigation of the crime proceeds, the father-son duo and a drug ring which includes a crooked cop are drawn into the case. Three more murders
are committed.

Many seek the killer. None suspect someone posing as a high school student.

The setting of the story is present-day California, including Los Angeles and more particularly Sacramento and its fast-growing suburb of Elk Grove. Heading the official investigation of the murders is a captain in the Sacramento Sheriff's Department, Sam Hornbuckle. Unbeknownst to the captain, one of the deputies working the case is on the payroll of a Los Angeles drug czar, who also wants the killer found. Hornbuckle pulls Jack McBride, an alcoholic ex-deputy, into the investigation. McBride's 17-year old son, Troy, attends the school where the killer is pretending to be a student.

Author Wagner weaves the killer's interaction with teenagers at school and the misdirected investigations by law enforcement and drug dealers into an irresistible story--disturbingly plausible and sprinkled with humor.

About Paul Wagner
Paul Wagner lives and writes in Sacramento, California. His other mystery novels are: All Rise: The Criminal Trial of 4 Teens, The A-Club Mystery, and Just One Mo.

The Houseboat Murders (ISBN 0-595-38340-8) is published by iUniverse, Inc. Available on order at major booksellers.