PLAYED TO DEATH
(Scott Drayco Series #1)
Crimetime Press
eBook ISBN: 978-0-9904582-3-4
Paperback ISBN: 978-0-9904582-1-0
Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-9904582-2-7
LATEST REVIEWS
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"An engaging lead and atmospheric setting make for an ideal travel read." - Library Journal
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"The storyline here is nicely structured, and creatively ties together two murder mysteries, which occurred decades apart. The small town setting is ideal, the lead character engaging, and the supporting cast interesting and diverse. Overall, a solid start to this series." - Omnimystery News
"Lawson uses the gothic features of the abandoned Opera House to great effect, creating an atmospheric background for the crimes and the solving of them, all of it accompanied with music that’s almost like another character. The pace never sagged and it kept me enthralled." - Long and Short Reviews
"Lawson’s book was so good, I read it twice from beginning to end...The citizens of Cape Unity are as diverse and multi-layered as any person living in the large cities, and Lawson portrayed them splendidly." - Reader's Favorite Reviews
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Winner, Best Mystery in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards; a Featured Self-E Selection by Library Journal​; and a finalist for the Shamus Awards for Best Indie P.I. Novel, Southwest Writers Novel MS Contest, and Maryland Writers Association Awards
The last thing he needed was to inherit a rundown opera house. And now, he’s just found a body inside.
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Scott Drayco isn’t a typical private detective: a former concert pianist with the rare condition of synesthesia—where he “sees” sounds as colors, shapes, and textures—he turned to a career in law enforcement after a violent attack put an end to his music dreams.
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When Drayco inherits a rundown Opera House in a Virginia seaside town following a particularly brutal case, he just wants to arrange a quick sale for the unwanted “gift” while nursing his battered soul in a peaceful setting near the shore.
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Those hopes are shattered when a dead body turns up on the Opera House stage, a mysterious “G” carved into the man’s chest. With himself a suspect in the murder, Drayco is forced to dig into very old, and very dangerous, secrets to clear his name.
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Standing in his way are a wary sheriff, hostility over coastal development, and the seductive wife of a town councilman. But as Drayco digs deeper, it becomes increasingly apparent he’s running out of time to solve the unusually twisty mystery before tensions explode into more violence and he becomes the next victim.
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