The following review was contributed by: NORM GOLDMAN EDITOR OF BOOKPLEASURES

Have you ever wondered how safe it is when stepping out on the balcony of a high- rise condo building? Did the contractor strictly follow the architect/ engineer’s plans or did he try to cut corners in order to save a couple of dollars?

You say that could not happen, as there are inspectors who make sure that the plans are followed to a tee. What if the inspectors are not doing their job properly? All of the above and more, including a real estate company that turns out to be a Mafia front, are some of the themes readers will encounter in Chester D. Campbell’s latest thriller, Designed To Kill.

Set in Pensacola Florida, Campbell’s heroes, Greg and Jill McKenzie, embark on a journey to find out if the death of the son of their good friends, Sam and Wilma Gannon was in fact a suicide, as the police stubbornly would have them believe.

Tim Gannon was the architect/engineer of a fifteen- story condo, whose balcony collapsed one evening causing the death of two people. Shortly after the accident Tim was found dead in his car. Using the investigative skills he acquired when he was working for the special investigations division of the Air Force, Greg together with his charming and very observant wife Jill piece together what actually happened on the night of Tim’s death.

Working backwards, the McKenzie’s uncover many pieces of a puzzle leading them to some disturbing connections involving Claude Detrich, the contractor of the project, Evan Baucus, the President of the real estate company that is selling the condos, and Bosley Farnsworth, the inspector, who was supposed to watch that everything was above board when the building was being built. To complicate matters readers are informed that the original plans of Tim Gannon have vanished and the computer file containing the plans was erased. Another set of plans has shown up that appears to have changed some essential building requirements.

We often hear that crime fictions are nothing more than clever escapist puzzles. We start with a crime and then we proceed to find out who did it, why etc. To a certain extent this may be true, however, what differentiates one from the other is the author’s ability to provide ample plot twists that effectively sustain the narrative tension until the last chapter. Here is where Designed To Kill shines, and perhaps Campbell has carved out his own unique literary niche to be followed by more of the McKenzie’s adventures into the world of crime investigations.