“Dick the Butcher wanted to get rid of the only people who could stop him from committing the crimes he planned. Shakespeare meant that if you kill all the lawyers, chaos will ensue. So only the lawyers kept criminals at bay.”
“Exactly. As I said, Dick got it right.”
“So you want chaos?”
“No. I want dead lawyers.”
When Jacob Schneider– a prominent criminal defense attorney– is found washed up on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, his death is ruled a suicide by authorities. Given the suicide note found on his body and no other signs of a struggle, it seems like an open-and-shut case. Just like the other defense attorneys who recently died across the U.S.
Special Agent Chris DiMeglio is back in Douglas J. Wood’s latest thriller, The Shakespeare Killer (Plum Bay Publishing, 979-8-9858564-1-5, June 2023). While DiMeglio is busy balancing his work as a federal agent and his newly appointed position of improving the public image of the FBI, he receives a tip from a local reporter who suspects the deaths of three lawyers are connected. Between the victim profiles, the suicide notes, and the unusual methods of death, it soon becomes obvious the FBI has yet another serial killer on its hands.
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.
“One of the most fundamental questions people have about defense attorneys is, ‘How can you do that? How can you go to bat every day for a person that you may not know is guilty but you have a pretty good idea that he’s not so innocent?’ It’s a question that defense attorneys answer for themselves by not addressing.” — David E. Kelley, American television writer, producer, and former attorney
Douglas J. Wood’s gripping new detective novel, The Shakespeare Killer, picks up the story of Agent DiMeglio, who fans may recognize from 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. While it is a work of fiction, Wood’s tireless research into the federal justice system and interviews with professionals in that field culminates into an unnervingly accurate police procedural. The Shakespeare Killer is a book that readers won’t want to put down.