Two days later, Dean dies suddenly―but not before sending a text message to Murphy: “13” “Twelve witnesses connected to or investigating The Nutcracker shooting have died either in an accident or suicide.” While their wives tend to bridesmaid duties, Murphy is trapped listening to Dean’s latest work-in-project-completing the manuscript of an investigative journalist who’d disappeared months earlier. Even after numerous investigations proved otherwise, conspiracy theorists argue that the assassin was acting on orders from the CIA, FBI, and every federal agency within a hundred miles of the capital.Īspiring Author Dean Conway is the last person Lieutenant Commander Murphy Thornton wants to spend his Saturday afternoon when they end up at the same wedding reception table. Together, can the detectives of the Thorny Rose uncover the truth without falling victim to a cunning killer?īook Description:Three years ago, the nation gasped in horror when the President of the United States barely escaped an assassination attempt that left two dead-the vice president’s wife and the attempted assassin. In this first installment of the Thorny Rose Mysteries, the Lovers in Crime join newlyweds Murphy Thornton and Jessica Faraday to shift through a web of lies and cover-ups. One wintry night, over a dozen years before, her first husband, a Pennsylvania State trooper, had been run down while working a night shift on the turnpike. The case takes an unexpected turn when Murphy discovers that one of the victims has a connection to his stepmother, Homicide Detective Cameron Gates. Taking on his first official murder case, Lieutenant Murphy Thornton, USN, believes that if he can uncover the thread connecting the victims, then he can find their murderer.

Among the many questions surrounding the massacre is what had brought these apparent strangers together only to be killed. Five women with seemingly nothing in common are found brutally murdered in a townhome outside Washington, DC.

Death on a Cold Night by Jess Faraday