Police Lieutenant Lane Walker is waiting at the District
Attorney's home to learn if the DA's death is from
natural causes or if he was murdered. As he waits, Tiffany
Clayton, a star reporter with the Chicago Times, arrives at
the DA's home for an appointment. Lane and Tiffany have a
romantic history that ended badly and do not hold each
other in very high esteem. When Lane gets the call that the
DA was drugged then killed by blunt force trauma and
stabbed with a red-handled knife after his death, he and
Tiffany look for a possible murder weapon. According to the
Medical Examiner, it is something round and painted red.
Lane finds a tin of fruitcake in the basement that matches
the red paint. However, he soon discovers this fruitcake is
twenty years old. The company that made it went out of
business in 1926.
Bret Garner, a WWII Marine buddy of Lane's turned private investigator, arrives
on the scene through a turn of events. Together, the three amigos mull over
the facts and try
to track down a killer. Days later, another murder
occurs with the same MO: drugged, hit in the head with a
fruitcake, and then stabbed with a red-handled knife. Later, Lane investigates
a third identical murder. But what do a murdered District Attorney, a retired
homeless, alcoholic cop, and a retired gun store owner have in common? Can
Lane, Tiffany and Bret work together to solve this case?
Ace Collins opens THE FRUITCAKE MURDERS with the killing of
a grocery store owner in 1926. As Lane, Tiffany and Bret
investigate the current three murders in 1946, they believe
these deaths are tied to the earlier murder.
THE FRUITCAKE MURDERS is a fast-paced and complex story.
The characters are realistic yet somewhat quirky. Each
pursues their own investigation in their own style, but
they come together and share their findings in trying to
solve this case. THE FRUITCAKE MURDERS may sound like a cozy mystery,
but it is definitely not. With the investigation tying in a
local Chicago crime boss and the mob, Lane, Tiffany and
Bret run into some harrowing situations. Ace Collins brings us another
masterfully written thriller that will have you riveted to the pages. As
imaginative and comical as it may
seem, fruitcakes are the perfect Christmas murder weapon.
Our family has its own tale about fruitcakes at Christmas,
so this one really hit home and made me chuckle.
As Christmas 1946 draws near, thirty-something marine
officer-turned-homicide detective Lane Walker has his
hands full. Three men with seemingly no relationship to
each other have been murdered, including the powerful
District Attorney. The only connection between the
crimes? The weapons: twenty-year-old unopened fruitcake
tins manufactured by a company that is no longer in
business. While some foods may be to die for, fruitcake
isn\'t one of them! This heaping helping of murder will
be no easy task for Walker, and he certainly doesn\'t
need the determined and feisty Betsy Clayton, the
political reporter for The Chicago Herald, getting in the
way. Employing witty dialogue and historical accuracy,
The Fruitcake Murders offers equal parts murder, mystery,
and mayhem in a perplexing whodunit set in the days just
after World War II.
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