A respected retired judge is found murdered near the Jewel Box in St. Louis's Forest Park. His body has been carefully positioned, his clothing arranged, and a single gunshot wound placed above his left eye. There are no signs of a struggle and almost no evidence left behind.
Detective Sergeant Mick Callahan and Detective Darius Coleman immediately recognize that this was more than a murder. The victim was deliberately placed where he would be found-and the killer is making a statement.
When another prominent civic leader is discovered dead at a different Forest Park landmark, the detectives uncover a disturbing connection between the victims. Thirty years earlier, they served together on a city commission that made a decision affecting the future of two very different parts of St. Louis. Forest Park received millions of dollars in redevelopment. The struggling Wells-Goodfellow neighborhood was told to wait.
Now, one by one, the people responsible for that decision are being executed.
As fear spreads across the city, Callahan and Coleman race to protect the remaining targets and identify a killer who plans every detail with extraordinary precision. Their investigation leads them through Forest Park's most familiar landmarks and into the forgotten history of a neighborhood that has carried the consequences of one decision for three decades.
But the deeper the detectives dig, the more complicated the truth becomes. The victims were not corrupt. The man believed to be seeking revenge may not be the killer. And buried within the case is the story of a family whose losses extend far beyond money, buildings, or political promises.
The Forest Park Murders is a gripping St. Louis homicide thriller about murder, memory, justice, and the devastating consequences of leaving an entire community behind. Featuring Detective Sergeant Mick Callahan and Detective Darius Coleman, this fourth installment in From the Files of the St. Louis Police Homicide Division can also be enjoyed as a standalone mystery.
