We Were Killers Once
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
In 1959, The Walker family murders shook Florida. As many as 587 people were considered suspects - but 60 years on the investigation remains unsolved.
Former FBI agent Brigid Quinn has been obsessed with the Walker case since she was a child. She believes it holds striking similarities to another high profile investigation of the time: the Clutter family murders, made infamous by Truman Capote's In Cold Blood. What if Perry Smith and Dick Hickock - executed for those murders - had killed again?
And what if there was a third killer, who remained unknown? Jerry Beaufort has just been released from prison after decades behind bars, and though he'd like to get on with living the rest of his life, he knows that somewhere there is a written record of the time he spent with two killers in 1959. But following the path of this letter will bring Jerry into contact with the last person he'll see as a threat: Brigid Quinn.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Inspired by Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, Masterman's intriguing fourth Brigid Quinn thriller (after 2017's A Twist of the Knife) supposes that Dick Hickock and Perry Smith didn't act alone when they killed the Clutter family in Kansas in 1959. For Brigid's upcoming wedding anniversary, her husband, Carlo DiForenza, has the perfect gift, a memento from his days as a prison chaplain a sketch by Hickock. Retired FBI agent Brigid has been obsessed with the notion that Hickock and Smith were also guilty of murdering a family of four in Florida a month after the Clutter slayings, a crime that was never solved. Brigid discovers a letter hidden behind the sketch that leads to a written confession by Hickock implicating a third person, Jerry Beaufort, who was 15 at the time. Now nearly 70, Jerry, who was recently released from prison after serving time for trafficking and drug possession, decides to track down a detective and others involved in the Clutter case. Fearful that modern-day forensics could expose his role in the murders, he's prepared to kill anyone who could implicate him. After his research reveals Carlo's link to Hickock, Jerry sets out for Arizona to silence Carlo. Masterman keeps the tension high throughout this page-turner.
