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New Mystery Novel - `The Houseboat Murders`

Author Paul Wagner, in his new novel, `The Houseboat Murders`, alters a police procedural story into a broader part-of-life tale involving a guilt-burdened father, his teenaged son, and a killer who disguises himself as a high school student to avoid being discovered.

The reader is an eyewitness to the triple homicide which launches the story. As the investigation of the crime proceeds, the father-son duo and a drug ring which includes a crooked cop are drawn into the case. Three more murders are committed. Many seek the killer. None suspect someone posing as a high school student. Author Wagner weaves the killer`s interaction with teenagers at school and the misdirected investigations by law enforcement and drug dealers into an irresistible story - disturbingly plausible and sprinkled with humor. The setting of the story is present-day California, including Los Angeles and more particularly Sacramento and its fast-growing suburb of Elk Grove.

Heading the official investigation of the murders is a captain in the Sacramento Sheriff?s Department, Sam Hornbuckle. Unbeknownst to the captain, one of the deputies working the case is on the payroll of a Los Angeles drug czar, who also wants the killer found. Hornbuckle pulls Jack McBride, an alcoholic ex-deputy, into the investigation. McBride`s 17-year old son, Troy, attends the school where the killer is pretending to be a student.