Designed to Kill

By Chester D. Campbell

An architect has been found dead in Florida from a gunshot wound. The deputy who investigated the case says it was self-inflicted but detective Greg McKenzie thinks otherwise. He finds plans missing,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1930754469
• ISBN13: 9781930754461
• Release Date: March 2004
• Publisher: Durban House
• Length: 283 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 1.0" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Chester Campbell Delivers another Winner!

In an age where you are afraid to recommend books to friends due to bad content, I can without reservation recommend this book to Mystery Lovers everywhere. A gripping novel with a fast-paced plot that will keep you guessing to the end. Chester Campbell has done it again!

Designed To Kill Delivers

When a close friend's son, an architect, is found dead in a seaside park shortly after a balcony he designed collapsed, killing two people, the police assume it's suicide. But the dead man's parents and Greg and Jill McKenzie don't buy it. He was staying in Greg and Jill's Florida condo at the time of his death. When they go to investigate his death, they discover his original plans are missing: the hard copies stolen and the digital form deleted from his hard drive. But the "copies" in the hands of the developer and the general contractor show inferior materials and structure supports. Is this what the deceased designed? Were the plans altered to save costs? If so, by whom? Questions abound: Why did the inspector approve the inferior rebar and the defective concrete pour? What was a woman's jacket doing in Greg and Jill's condo, when the deceased was married and his wife was back in Tennessee? Why is the New Orleans mob trying to kill Greg? Jill is Greg's ace in the hole in this fast-moving mystery. But he's got only his Beretta when the chips are down. Chester D Campbell's DESIGNED TO KILL is one of the better mysteries I've read this year.

Great mystery with lots of twists and turns

Greg McKenzie and his wife Jill are asked by friends to go to Perdido Key, Florida, to investigate who killed their friends' son Tim Gannon. The police believe it was suicide. Tim was an Architect/Engineer in charge of construction of a beachfront condo complex called "The Sand Castle." At a recent party, the balcony of the penthouse unit on the fifteenth floor collapsed killing and injuring people. He tried to help rescue people, but the police feel he was depressed from the collapse. Greg is not a private investigator, but he was an agent with OSI (the Air Force office of Special Investigations) and an investigator with the DA's office in Nashville. So he has experience. As Greg starts investigating, he soon finds out there are missing plan, an obstinate contractor, an inspector who is angry over a disrupted love affair, and a very slick developer. Plus Greg is worked over by two thugs. Greg realizes Jill is in danger and that he'd better determine if this is murder and if so, get it solved quickly. But can he do it without either being hurt further or Jill being harmed? I really enjoyed this book. It was the first in the series that I have read. Jill and Greg are terrific characters, and I would love to read more about them. The Florida setting was very enjoyable as well. I liked all the twists and turns that the plot takes. It keeps you guessing right up to the end. He does a great job of tying up all the loose ends as well. I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading more in this series.

A Worthy Read: "Designed To Kill"

Designed To Kill By Chester D. Campbell Durban House Publishing Company, Inc. www.durbanhouse.com 2004 ISBN # 1-930754-46-9 Large Trade Paperback $15.95 US Following up on his novel "Secret of the Scroll" author Chester D. Campbell brings back Greg McKenzie and his wife Jill for a case that hits too close to home. Both are recuperating from the events of the last book, which are frequently referred to in this novel. Jill is dealing with painful rehab following her surgery for a torn rotator cuff in her left shoulder while Greg is dealing with his guilt over allowing her to be hurt and not being able to prevent it. But all that becomes secondary on the news of the apparent suicide of Tim Gannon. Tim Gannon was an Architect/Engineer overseeing the construction of a new beachfront condominium complex known as "The Sand Castle" in Perdido Key, Florida. Striking in appearance, it was also striking in a totally different way thanks to a patio collapse from the penthouse unit at the fifteenth floor. The deaths and injuries were soon followed by the discovery of Tim's body in his car at The Gulf Islands National Seashore located nearby. Found dead, apparently of a self-inflicted gunshot, the news is shocking for the Mckenzies. Not only because he was using their condo at Perdido Key but also because he is the son of their closest friends in Nashville, Sam and Wilma Gannon. From the beginning despite the evidence, Sam believes it is murder and wants a very reluctant Greg to look into it. After all, Greg was an agent with the OSI (the Air Force Office of Special Investigations), an investigator for the DA's office in Nashville, and a few other things. What the 65-year-old Greg McKenzie does not have is a private investigator license, something the local police locked into their theory of suicide due to guilt over a bad design are quick to repeatedly and firmly point out. But nobody can really stop somebody from asking questions of those involved and all are relatively quick to talk and spin the accepted story. But there are holes and Greg and Jill keep asking questions and working the timeline despite attempts to cover up the evidence. They soon ask too many questions in all the wrong places and quickly find out that the construction business can be murder. This is a very enjoyable read that relies primarily on detection and not graphic violence to move the story forward. Greg and Jill are both beautifully drawn characters and quickly become, not just alive for the reader, but old and trusted friends. The secondary characters are just as realistic and serve to advance the story at just the right times and places. The plot itself is by all appearances relatively straightforward for approximately the first half of the book and then begins to twist in strange and unexpected ways. Just when it appears that everything led one way, the author abruptly changes tact and shocked this reader with the identity of the actual killer. After reading quite a few

A fine second effort!

Chester D. Campbell is a consummate writer, and has spent his life penning pieces for newspapers, magazines, politicians, and the trades. His second career has been the military, where he served in two wars and retired from the Air Force Reserve with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He is married, and has four children and eight grandchildren to dote upon. Greg and Jill McKenzie are just recuperating from their first murder case. This is Greg's first case since he retired from his career as an OSI investigator and former lawman. Jill was kidnaped, and a resultant torn rotator cuff required the well known painful surgery and subsequent recuperation and physical therapy. But when their best friends' son, Tim Gannon, is found dead of an apparent self-inflicted wound the McKenzies spring into action. It seems that Tim's newly constructed condominium called "The Sand Castle"suffered a collapsed balcony and two hapless people plunged to their deaths. Tim is an architect whose plans for a beachfront condo called for reinforced rebar, but his plans have been stolen, and apparently the collapsed balcony failed. Greg and Jill gear up for what promises to be an extended investigation. Little do they know that they may become the hunted as they uncover shady dealings by almost everyone involved in the construction of the condo: "'Tim had a copy with him down here. It's missing, too. He also had a laptop computer, which we found in our condo. The Sand Castle file had been erased from it. But Walt took the laptop back to Nashville and had a software recovery firm work with the machine. They recovered the file, so there's a copy of Tim's original specs available now. They show the larger rebars and the higher p.s.i. concrete, like Walt remembered.'" Chester D. Campbell has done it again! That is, he's written a thoroughly entertaining whodunit which incorporates his military knowledge and, in this case, architectural design. He manages to hang the specter of the wrongfully murdered young architect over a plot that moves along at a rapid clip with plenty of cliffhangers and well-defined characters. Greg McKenzie and his wife Jill are likeable characters who manage to transform retirement into a series of exciting adventures, all the while dealing with aging bodies and minds. A fine second effort! Shelley Glodowski Senior Reviewer