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Albert Camus

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Golf, Madness, and Murder Collide - Match Play by D. Michael Poppe

Description:

Golf, Madness, and Murder Collide

FBI Agent Lou Schein is assigned to investigate a grisly murder in Los Angeles, one echoing a similar case in Phoenix, Arizona. Agent Schein, a golf enthusiast, notices a strange coincidence: both crimes occur while the LPGA tournament is being held in the respective cities.

After the fourth murder, it’s clear they are after a serial killer obsessed with the golf game of match play. He is scoring the individual murders as one hole of the match on the current tournament course.

The killer leaves a series of taunts and clues which the FBI must decipher to learn where he will strike next. It is a game that becomes an obsession for both the killer and Agent Lou Schein, one determined to win the match and the other to stop him before he strikes again.

GUEST POST
Serial Killers 
by D. Michael Poppe
From the acknowledgements for the book – ‘I acknowledge my debt to the pathological, the deranged, and the malignant. Everyone who has helplessly fallen into that tragic category and acted horrendously at some time in their life. Perhaps some will think this book is an example; but it is also a window, a tableau, a chimera of another individual’s life gone awry; and a pervasive reality that confounds us all. I owe this book to David Steadman (the fictional killer) and the experiences that created him’.

Serial murders do confound us but to a certain degree they fascinate us too. Generally there is a deep psychotic motivation for the killer that we try to unravel, and it is not until the end of the book that it is revealed. MATCH PLAY is a different story. In the case of David Steadman, as the story evolves, so does he. The reader begins to understand why he is a serial murderer and why his murders are staged as they are. The story and his behavior reveals him in every aspect of his personality and his life.

I think writing this type of story requires a complex character, unexpected events, and bewildering murders. Not just a type of victim, but victims who have a personality and an identity. A story that is engaging; a page turner as they say, a story that propels itself. MATCH PLAY attempts to do just that, it is as if the reader is committing the murders, and discovering what their motivation is at the same time. MATCH PLAY is graphic, bloody, psychological, and rather like a trip to the psychotherapist with the killer.

About the author:
I was born in the Midwest on a dairy farm outside a small town. I had a love of art from a young age; drew and wrote stories about the farm. My upbringing was conservative and religious and it took a long time to overcome it. I served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam war and was honorably discharged in 1971. I then attended the University of Calfornia and received a degree in Studio Art in 1976. I painted for many years and have paintings in many private collections primarily on the West Coast of the US. I retired and finally had some time for writing; Match Play is my first novel and it will be released later this year or in early 2014. I live in the South Western United States with my wife Ann of twelve years.


1 comment:

Omnimystery News said...

Terrific guest post. A serial killer thriller must be tough to craft, with so many elements in play. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this with us.