Long Chain of Death — Sarah K. Wolf / S.K. Wolf

For as far back as acting police chief Philip Decker could remember--and he had lived in little Fairfield all his life--there had never been a murder in the town. Now there were three, in rapid succession. Elizabeth Daly, the prettiest, most sought-after girl in town, now Elizabeth Brett, wife of newcomer David Brett, is blown to bits when she turns on the ignition of the family car. Jenny Wilson, high school cheerleader, and Lane Carpenter, her football-hero boyfriend, are shot through the head as they sit in Lane's car late one night a few days later.

At first, nothing seems to connect the two crimes except, just possibly, David Brett, husband of one victim, teacher of the other two. But when David himself, under suspension and crazed with grief over his wife's death, sets out to find the murderer, he quickly discovers an ominous pattern. Over the past twenty years, three Fairfield men and many members of their immediate families have died in seeming accidents. As boys and as youths, these men--David's father among them--and one other had been close friends, had even stayed together overseas in World War II. A fourth man may or may not be alive--he has disappeared.

David's search takes him from Michigan to Massachusetts and back, each day bringing him closer to the unknown killer, whose deadly pattern has accelerated and who, David knows, menaces him as well as the other remaining children of the doomed quartet.

And meanwhile, Lieutenant Philip Decker is playing a game of his own. Just as determined as Brett is to find the killer, he hides his dangerous strategy. As the tension heightens, David discovers how impressive and frightening the powers of bother killer and policemen are, and knows that he, in the middle, must match them both.