Designed to Kill

Rating:
Summary: Murder and skullduggery...
Review: "With the darkness and the music, all the laughter and chatter, no one noticed the crack in the concrete."

If that opening line of the Prologue doesn't capture your attention and arouse your curiosity nothing will. What a portent to disaster. And it happens - the 15th floor balcony holding celebrants of the opening of The Sand Castle condominiums collapses. Unfortunately two of the revelers are plunged to their deaths, but a few people are saved. The local authorities decide the collapse was no accident and treat the area as a crime scene, much to the consternation of Tim Gannon, an Architect/Engineer who worked on the design of the building. He is stunned by the balcony collapse, but before Tim can look into the problem his body is found on a private beach area shot to death and the same authorities list his death as suicide.

Tim's parents are Sam and Wilma Gannon who have known Greg and Jill McKenzie for years. Being a father, Sam cannot accept the verdict of

Suicide handed down about Tim. Remembering that Greg is an ex-agent of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) Sam requests that Greg find out the truth behind the events that happened. But since a security tape of the parking area of the club shows Tim's car and no one else, how did someone approach his car to shoot him? Greg really has his work cut out for him.

Greg and his helpful wife Jill embark on their own private investigation that leads them into danger to themselves. But Greg still has his sharp investigative talents and starts uncovering clues one by one. Some clues are dead ends, or Red Herrings we might call them, but apparently other leads are close enough for someone to hire two hefty goons-for-hire to beat-up Greg severely and leave him with the admonition to stop nosing around. Of course this just clinches the fact that he and Jill are on the right track and are getting very close to the answer someone doesn't want known.

Wait until they discover there are several people that don't want a lot of things uncovered.

Mr. Campbell has written another page-turner. It was real hard not to peek into the last chapter to see who-done-it. He has filled the story with such convincing characters that are so fleshed-out as to appear alive. There are stolen plans, murder, love gone astray, back stabbing, mean goons and all kinds of skullduggery.

I'm eagerly looking forward to the next Greg and Jill McKenzie adventure. But I sincerely suggest that you don't miss this one.

-Shirley Truax

Rating:
Summary: Partners Sublime
Review: Campbell's story is a seamless fabrication deftly enhanced by fact. The plot, unlikely to inspire copycat crimes, is perfectly feasible, and well unfolded. The dialogue that drives the story rings true in every detail; if anything could be added here, I think readers would enjoy longer conversations between the McKenzies, some of whose remarks are definitely collectible.
It can be said of most literary sleuths that they'd be great to have around in a crisis; these characters, should they step off the page, would be welcome visitors anywhere, any time. I finished the book wanting to know more about them.
The author's subtle humor put me in mind of Agatha Christie's "Partners in Crime," but Tommy and Tuppence were contrived as mannequins for parody. There's nothing contrived or imitative about Greg and Jill. Campbell has obviously wrought them from observation and experience, nor has he stinted on the research necessary to guide their footsteps convincingly. I look forward to the next in the series!

Rating:
Summary: A fine second effort!
Review: Chester D. Campbell is a consummate writer, and has spent his life penning pieces for newspapers, magazines, politicians, and the trades. His second career has been the military, where he served in two wars and retired from the Air Force Reserve with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He is married, and has four children and eight grandchildren to dote upon.

Greg and Jill McKenzie are just recuperating from their first murder case. This is Greg's first case since he retired from his career as an OSI investigator and former lawman. Jill was kidnaped, and a resultant torn rotator cuff required the well known painful surgery and subsequent recuperation and physical therapy. But when their best friends' son, Tim Gannon, is found dead of an apparent self-inflicted wound the McKenzies spring into action. It seems that Tim's newly constructed condominium called "The Sand Castle"suffered a collapsed balcony and two hapless people plunged to their deaths. Tim is an architect whose plans for a beachfront condo called for reinforced rebar, but his plans have been stolen, and apparently the collapsed balcony failed. Greg and Jill gear up for what promises to be an extended investigation. Little do they know that they may become the hunted as they uncover shady dealings by almost everyone involved in the construction of the condo:

"'Tim had a copy with him down here. It's missing, too. He also had a laptop computer, which we found in our condo. The Sand Castle file had been erased from it. But Walt took the laptop back to Nashville and had a software recovery firm work with the machine. They recovered the file, so there's a copy of Tim's original specs available now. They show the larger rebars and the higher p.s.i. concrete, like Walt remembered.'"

Chester D. Campbell has done it again! That is, he's written a thoroughly entertaining whodunit which incorporates his military knowledge and, in this case, architectural design. He manages to hang the specter of the wrongfully murdered young architect over a plot that moves along at a rapid clip with plenty of cliffhangers and well-defined characters. Greg McKenzie and his wife Jill are likeable characters who manage to transform retirement into a series of exciting adventures, all the while dealing with aging bodies and minds. A fine second effort!

Shelley Glodowski
Senior Reviewer


Rating:
Summary: A Worthy Read: "Designed To Kill"
Review: Designed To Kill
By Chester D. Campbell
Durban House Publishing Company, Inc.
www.durbanhouse.com
2004
ISBN # 1-930754-46-9
Large Trade Paperback
$15.95 US



Following up on his novel "Secret of the Scroll" author Chester D. Campbell brings back Greg McKenzie and his wife Jill for a case that hits too close to home. Both are recuperating from the events of the last book, which are frequently referred to in this novel. Jill is dealing with painful rehab following her surgery for a torn rotator cuff in her left shoulder while Greg is dealing with his guilt over allowing her to be hurt and not being able to prevent it. But all that becomes secondary on the news of the apparent suicide of Tim Gannon.

Tim Gannon was an Architect/Engineer overseeing the construction of a new beachfront condominium complex known as "The Sand Castle" in Perdido Key, Florida. Striking in appearance, it was also striking in a totally different way thanks to a patio collapse from the penthouse unit at the fifteenth floor. The deaths and injuries were soon followed by the discovery of Tim's body in his car at The Gulf Islands National Seashore located nearby.

Found dead, apparently of a self-inflicted gunshot, the news is shocking for the Mckenzies. Not only because he was using their condo at Perdido Key but also because he is the son of their closest friends in Nashville, Sam and Wilma Gannon. From the beginning despite the evidence, Sam believes it is murder and wants a very reluctant Greg to look into it. After all, Greg was an agent with the OSI (the Air Force Office of Special Investigations), an investigator for the DA's office in Nashville, and a few other things.

What the 65-year-old Greg McKenzie does not have is a private investigator license, something the local police locked into their theory of suicide due to guilt over a bad design are quick to repeatedly and firmly point out. But nobody can really stop somebody from asking questions of those involved and all are relatively quick to talk and spin the accepted story. But there are holes and Greg and Jill keep asking questions and working the timeline despite attempts to cover up the evidence. They soon ask too many questions in all the wrong places and quickly find out that the construction business can be murder.

This is a very enjoyable read that relies primarily on detection and not graphic violence to move the story forward. Greg and Jill are both beautifully drawn characters and quickly become, not just alive for the reader, but old and trusted friends. The secondary characters are just as realistic and serve to advance the story at just the right times and places.

The plot itself is by all appearances relatively straightforward for approximately the first half of the book and then begins to twist in strange and unexpected ways. Just when it appears that everything led one way, the author abruptly changes tact and shocked this reader with the identity of the actual killer. After reading quite a few books, mystery and otherwise, over the years, it is rare to see the final twist pulled off so well. Enjoy this one as it is very good stuff, indeed.


Kevin R. Tipple (c) 2004

Rating:
Summary: Suicide in Pensacola Florida- or was it a Suicide?
Review: Have you ever wondered how safe it is when stepping out on the balcony of a high- rise condo building? Did the contractor strictly follow the architect/ engineer's plans or did he try to cut corners in order to save a couple of dollars?

You say that could not happen, as there are inspectors who make sure that the plans are followed to a tee. What if the inspectors are not doing their job properly?
All of the above and more, including a real estate company that turns out to be a Mafia front, are some of the themes readers will encounter in Chester D. Campbell's latest thriller, Designed To Kill.

Set in Pensacola Florida, Campbell's heroes, Greg and Jill McKenzie, embark on a journey to find out if the death of the son of their good friends, Sam and Wilma Gannon was in fact a suicide, as the police stubbornly would have them believe.

Tim Gannon was the architect/engineer of a fifteen- story condo, whose balcony collapsed one evening causing the death of two people. Shortly after the accident Tim was found dead in his car.
Using the investigative skills he acquired when he was working for the special investigations division of the Air Force, Greg together with his charming and very observant wife Jill piece together what actually happened on the night of Tim's death.

Working backwards, the McKenzie's uncover many pieces of a puzzle leading them to some disturbing connections involving Claude Detrich, the contractor of the project, Evan Baucus, the President of the real estate company that is selling the condos, and Bosley Farnsworth, the inspector, who was supposed to watch that everything was above board when the building was being built.
To complicate matters readers are informed that the original plans of Tim Gannon have vanished and the computer file containing the plans was erased. Another set of plans has shown up that appears to have changed some essential building requirements.

We often hear that crime fictions are nothing more than clever escapist puzzles. We start with a crime and then we proceed to find out who did it, why etc.
To a certain extent this may be true, however, what differentiates one from the other is the author's ability to provide ample plot twists that effectively sustain the narrative tension until the last chapter. Here is where Designed To Kill shines, and perhaps Campbell has carved out his own unique literary niche to be followed by more of the McKenzie's adventures into the world of crime investigations.

Norm Goldman Editor of Bookpleasures.com

Rating:
Summary: A PI for the Older Generation
Review: This sophomore mystery novel has a good many things to recommend it, not the least of which is the main character. Greg McKenzie is refreshing in an era when the standard for mysteries seems to be to burden the main characters with as many neuroses and life crises as possible. McKenzie's deepest angst is his effort to quit smoking.

Mr. Campbell's McKenzie is a retired Air Force investigator who is finding retirement just a bit of a bore. Well, except for that little incident in Israel that left his wife with a bad shoulder, but that was a tale for another time.

In this installment, McKenzie is asked by a close friend to look into the apparent suicide of the friend's son, an up-and-coming young engineer-architect who seemed to be on the way to fame and fortune. Until a balcony on a building he designed collapsed, killing several people. It was despondency over that, according to the local constabulary on Perdido Key, that led him to shoot himself.

But neither Greg McKenzie nor the young man's family can believe he would have reacted that way. It wasn't his style. So McKenzie and his wife Jill travel to their own condo on the key, where the deceased had been living, to see what can be learned. The more they learn, the more dangerous life becomes.

This book seems more a logic puzzle than a mystery as one reads-until the end. That's just one of the things that makes it a sure-fire delight for anyone who likes lots of suspense and characters who are a lot like the people next door. There's a wonderful solidity in both Greg and Jill, a constant sense that you've actually met them somewhere and just can't recall where it was. Unlike many cozies, which this technically is, the reader has no difficulty envisioning Greg confronting criminals and recalcitrant witnesses. These are honest, down-to-earth, church-going folks who just happen to end up in messes most people don't-and who handle it as one suspects they handle any other mess, with steady confidence and practical wisdom.

Boomers in particular are going to enjoy this book, simply because Greg and Jill are fellow travelers whose life experiences we can share because we were there. That, however, needn't preclude younger readers from enjoying the book, which is filled with vivid and creative imagery as well as demonstrating superb writing skills. Meet the McKenzies-you'll be better for the experience.