Designed to Kill [Paperback]

Chester Campbell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 2004

It's no vacation that brings Greg McKenzie and his wife, Jill, to the glistening white sand beaches at Perdido Key, FL. Architect Tim Gannon, son of the McKenzies' closest friends, is found dead of a gunshot wound. Self-inflicted, says the deputy who investigated, a clear case of remorse over a design flaw in a beachfront condo that caused a balcony collapse, killing two people. It looks otherwise to Greg and Jill, who find plans missing, an obstinate contractor, a too-slick developer, and an inspector angry over a disrupted love affair. After two hoods work him over, Greg realizes Jill is in danger, too, and if this is a murder case, he had better solve it without delay.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A thoroughly enjoyable mystery with an intelligent plot, clever clues, and characters like people you know." -- Philip Margolin, New York Times Bestselling Author

"Designed to Kill is everything you could want in a mystery: suspense, colorful characters, and a great surprise ending." -- Don Bruns, bestselling author Jamaica Blue

"Don’t ever go up in a highrise condominium with Chester Campbell. You may never come down. .. -- Don Bruns, bestselling author of JAMAICA BLUE and BARBADOS HEART

"Pleasant company in today’s crowded mystery genre. Confident writing style and finely-crafted characters make this a first rate read." -- John Hamilton Lewis, SAMSARA

"Readers wanting a great mystery need look no further than Chester Campbell’s Designed to Kill." -- Richard Sand, Hands of Vengeance

About the Author

I got bitten by the writing bug when I started work as a newspaper reporter while a journalism student at the University of Tennessee. That was more than 60 years ago. Since then I've worked as a freelance writer, a magazine editor, a political speechwriter, an advertising copywriter, a public relations writer and an association manager. I started writing novels after retirement. I write the Greg McKenzie mysteries featuring a retired Air Force OSI agent. The first, SECRET OF THE SCROLL (2002), takes place in Nashville and Israel. The second, DESIGNED TO KILL (2004), is set around Pensacola, FL, and the third, DEADLY ILLUSIONS (2005), wanders about Nashville. The fourth,  titled THE MARATHON MURDERS (2008), involves the long-defunct Marathon Motor Works in Nashville, and the fifth is A SPORTING MURDER (2010), dealing with professional sports in Nashville. My second mystery series follows the adventures of Nashville PI Sid Chance. The first book, titled THE SUREST POISON (2009), deals with a toxic chemical spill in a suburban county.

Product Details

• Paperback: 283 pages
• Publisher: Durban House; 1st edition (March 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930754469
• ISBN-13: 978-1930754461
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,489,153 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After following a snake-like career path that writhed about from newspapers to magazines to speechwriting to advertising to PR to association management, I settled on novel writing after retirement. I'm having a blast. My PI characters do things I'd never dare attempt. The reviewers love 'em, and so do the fans. Most of my stories are drawn from life, from all the weird and wonderful things that go on around me. Since I've been observing this for the last 85 years, there's no shortage of stuff to draw on.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fine second effort!, August 5, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Designed to Kill (Paperback)

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

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Murder and skullduggery..., April 25, 2004

By 

Ingrid Taylor "Author, Book Reviewer" (Springfield, MO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Designed to Kill (Paperback)

"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

5.0 out of 5 stars Designed To Kill Delivers, May 11, 2006

By 

Ben F. Small (Tucson, AZ, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Designed to Kill (Paperback)

When a close friend's son, an architect, is found dead in a seaside park shortly after a balcony he designed collapsed, killing two people, the police assume it's suicide. But the dead man's parents and Greg and Jill McKenzie don't buy it. He was staying in Greg and Jill's Florida condo at the time of his death. When they go to investigate his death, they discover his original plans are missing: the hard copies stolen and the digital form deleted from his hard drive. But the "copies" in the hands of the developer and the general contractor show inferior materials and structure supports. Is this what the deceased designed? Were the plans altered to save costs? If so, by whom? Questions abound: Why did the inspector approve the inferior rebar and the defective concrete pour? What was a woman's jacket doing in Greg and Jill's condo, when the deceased was married and his wife was back in Tennessee? Why is the New Orleans mob trying to kill Greg?

Jill is Greg's ace in the hole in this fast-moving mystery. But he's got only his Beretta when the chips are down.

Chester D Campbell's DESIGNED TO KILL is one of the better mysteries I've read this year.