Dale Carter is just a patrol officer. He shouldn't be investigating a murder. But this case has more holes than the victim—and he has a hundred.
Dale has little in his life: paralytic grief at the recent death of his teenage son, vodka, and a wife who wants nothing to do with him after Dale’s permissive parenting strategies cost their son, Ethan, his life.
But when eighteen-year-old Andy Dillard stabs his father, Buck, one hundred times, Dale becomes obsessed with how Andy was raised. Buck’s authoritative parenting style was the exact opposite of Dale’s, employing many of the tough love strategies Dale now thinks might have saved Ethan’s life.
And yet, every stone Dale turns over in this case reveals that Buck’s parenting may have actually led to his murder. All until Dale unearths the final root, the real cause of Andy's rage…and possibly Ethan's. Suddenly, Dale sees a new story of Ethan's death, one where he is not at fault.
To prove it, he'll have to uncover the truth about Andy and the murder he committed. If he can solve this case, Dale might finally be free of the guilt sinking him to the bottom of the bottle.
Otherwise, he'll wind up buried beside his son.
"Every father should remember
one day his son will follow his example,
not his advice.”
― Charles F. Kettering
The murder in this story is based on a terrible event from my own life, the colorful characters are inspired by my family, and the setting replicates the small, midwestern town where I was raised.