Böcker av Kenneth Butcher

Someone kills a master artist in his studio. Lt. Segal and his partner, Walter, race to the River Arts District to investigate. Weapon of choice? Crossbow. Quirky, even for Asheville. A new cop, Dinah, arrives to assist. Smart, athletic and absolutely fearless, Segal is impressed and welcomes her to the team. Segal's life gets complicated. The victim was the brother of North Carolina's first lady. Segal can't decide if she is sincere or devious, but he can't deny a powerful attraction. A second murder is discovered. Different part of town, different weapon, but none-the-less related to the first. Possible serial killer? The investigation leads Segal's team through more twists and turns than the mountain roads around the city. From fifteenth century art, to Romeo and Juliet, shady real estate deals to crooked politicians and amateur militia of gun-worshiping louts, will the team be able to crack this case before disaster at the Renaissance fair?

"A bookish police detective and his roller derby star partner investigate a quirky mystery involving superintelligent animals, military conspiracy ... and murder. When a body is found in the River Arts District of Asheville, North Carolina, the man on the case is police lieutenant Ira Segal, recently returned to semi-active status after being shot in the line of duty. Segal, who carries Elmore Leonard paperbacks as security blankets, isn't sure he's up to investigating a murder, and neither is his partner, military veteran and local roller derby star Sgt. Dinah "Dinosaur" Rudisill. Segal discovers that the victim worked for the mysterious start-up company Creatures 2.0, which trains animals to acquire uncanny capabilities. Creature 2.0's eccentric founder, Francis Elah, has gone missing, and no one can find him, not even Elah's top client, the Office of Naval Intelligence. As Segal and Rudisill investigate the murder and Elah's disappearance, they meet the bizarre animals Elah trained, including a raccoon who rolls cigarettes, pigeons who follow a priest to church, and a superintelligent crow who keeps bringing evidence to the detectives' attention. When the trail leads to a shadowy military contractor, more murders, and a threat to national security, Segal and Rudisill don't know who to trust and face a dangerous confrontation. Witty, engaging and fast-paced, As the Crow Dies is a mystery that veers from the norm in unexpectedly delightful ways"--