Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Slayer Statute | 2021 | Royce Wilson | Buy |
The Slayer Statute centers on a teenager on trial for murdering his mother and shooting her fiance, with both the boy and the fiance standing to inherit a significant sum from her death. Florida’s slayer statute, the law that bars anyone responsible for a person’s death from benefiting financially, sits at the heart of the case. State’s Attorney investigator Charlie Keene believes the prosecution has the wrong suspect, and risks his job pursuing that conviction.
Wilson brings his forensics background to bear on the legal proceedings, making the crime scene analysis and investigative logic the driving engine of the story. The book shifts the reader’s sympathies more than once as new evidence surfaces, which reflects Wilson’s stated approach of grounding his fiction in the genuine ambiguity of real criminal investigations.
At roughly novella length, The Slayer Statute moves quickly and focuses tightly on the case at hand. Readers already familiar with Wilson’s detective fiction will recognize the style and setting; those coming to Wilson for the first time will find it a solid entry point into his work.