Breakfast Murders — R.J. Gillens

Ontario County Sheriff's Inspector Marty Carbone thought he had seen every inhuman act that one person could commit upon another. His years as a Manhattan homicide detective had left him emotionally callused about such things, or so he thought. Marty and his wife, Mary, had moved to the mostly rural county and bought their first house. Their life was pleasant and peaceful.

Bertan Crane had been many things in his life; a farmer, a husband, and a factory supervisor. He and his ladylove, Maxine, were building their dream house high on the eastern slope of Blackmaer Lake. Their life together was enjoyable and complete. Both had endured bad marriages before they met so they relished their time together.

The splendor of a Western New York summer is destroyed by the ugliness of serial murder. Marty Carbone and Bertan Crane both have vested interests in seeing that the murders are solved. Marty because it's his job, Bertan because the first victim was an acquaintance. The two men become partners of sorts in the pursuit of the truth. They are shocked by the brutality of the crimes. They are repulsed by the facts that they uncover about the murderer and the murderer's motives.

JJ Jamison narrates the story of The Breakfast Murders from Bertan Crane's journals. Taking place twenty-five years before The Girl in Blackmaer Lake, The Breakfast Murders chronicles the birth of the "Sleuth of Blackmaer".