Douglas J. Wood has released his new crime fiction novel, The Shakespeare Killer (Plum Bay Publishing, 979-8-9858564-1-5, Summer 2023), a thrilling police procedural that follows FBI Special Agent Chris DiMeglio as he begins connecting the seemingly unrelated deaths of three lawyers across the US. Between the similar victim profiles, the suicide notes left at the crime scenes, and the unusual methods of death, it soon becomes obvious that the FBI has yet another serial killer on its hands, and the hunt begins.
This case is particularly sadistic and not long after he begins working on the case, DiMeglio starts receiving cryptic texts referencing Shakespearean characters and a clear motive to “kill all the lawyers.” With the lives of so many at stake, DiMeglio is forced to play a heart-pounding game of cat-and-mouse to find the culprit and stop the killing. Through guileful messages and hints, DiMeglio must dissect the killer’s vendetta and figure out who the Shakespeare Killer is at all costs before the next victim dies.
Douglas J. Wood’s The Shakespeare Killer picks up the story of Agent DiMeglio from his previous novel, Blood on the Bayou. Whether you’re already a fan or you want to read it as a standalone work, The Shakespeare Killer is a thought-provoking mystery that will have readers alongside DiMeglio trying to guess the killer. A lawyer himself, Doug has done countless hours of research into the federal justice system & interviews with professionals, culminating in an unnervingly accurate detective novel.
My Thoughts
The Shakespeare Killer is the second, the first, Blood on the Bayou, in a series by Douglas J Wood. I read the first one and enjoyed it so I was eager to read this one. I think that even though you may not have read the first one, you can still enjoy this one as a stand-alone.
Someone is killing the lawyers, in various different places in different countries. The first lawyer is Jacob Schneider. Jacob was a prominent defense lawyer, getting murderers off scot-free. It did not matter to him if they were guilty or innocent.
At first, authorities claimed that Jacob had committed suicide. Special Agent Chris diMeglio and his team are tasked with finding the murderer, and subsequent murders. It quickly came to my attention of Chris that these were not suicides but a very clever person, Male/female often misquoted the line "Let's kill all the lawyers". This line is from Henry VI part two, said by Dick the Butcher.
The killer has taken to texting Chris, who only has so much time to find the killer before he/she strikes again. So his team travels to Italy, from a clue that, the name that the killer has adopted, "Dick". After a time, Chris and his team are able to figure out who the killer is, but not the Why. The only connection to the other murders is that they were all prominent lawyers who defended murders, of which most of the criminals walked free.
I really enjoyed The Shakespeare Killer as I did Blood on the Bayou. Great supporting characters, who also have baggage of their own. There is always a little twist to Mr. Woods's books, I guess that is what makes the reading go by fast. Chris is a no-nonsense FBI profiler, he knows his stuff and he gets respect from the rest of the team. Romance? Well of course there is, would not make a good book if there wasn't.
The author of course knows his way around the FBI to make the plot of the book believable! It definitely shows that the author did his research
I give this book 5 stars!
I received a copy of the book for review purposes only.
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