With a flavour of Agatha Christie, Murder for Murder has the feel of an old-fashioned whodunit.
Meet Jim Danzig, enquiry agent of Castletown, and his partner Judith Hare, who are called upon to investigate the death of 16-year-old Ryan Kelsall, a former pupil at the local independent Grammar School. A sad, rather inadequate youth, Kelsall met his death by a fall from the top of a deserted multi-storey car park in Castletown one Sunday morning. Suicide is the obvious explanation, and the police have written it off as such. However the method seems strange for someone terrified of heights. Two other people associated with the deceased also died recently in obscure circumstances. Is this a coincidence, or is there a more sinister explanation?
Enquiries by Danzig and Hare lead to their joining a local drama group run by former pupils and staff of Castletown Independent Grammar School, who are producing Measure for Measure. Many of the cast appear to have guilty secrets, from mere sexual peccadilloes to an elaborate fraud.
Not without risk to themselves, an occasional punch-up, and some friction with the police, Danzig and Hare uncover the truth, and the murderer is revealed.
Born in Stafford in 1940, Roger Butters was educated locally and practised as a solicitor in the town until retiring in 1978 to give more time to writing. During the 1970s he was a director of Stafford Rangers Football Club, and has also owned and bred racehorses and held a private pilot's licence. He plays chess to county standard, and has written a biography of Howard Staunton (1810-74), the only Englishman ever to have been World Chess Champion.
He has a number of unusual interests, some grown-up such as Buddhism, philosophy, karate, and study with the Open University, but others more suited to a nine-year-old, such as Tarzan and dinosaurs. His main interest apart from writing is the local theatre, particularly Shakespeare, where he has played a variety of roles including King Lear and Mark Antony.
Published works include several genre novels and a history of Stafford. At present he is working on a series of modern crime stories with the same hero, private eye Jim Danzig, and a political thriller entitled Heirs of Glory.
Likes: Animals, and people who like them. Dislikes: Politicians, lawyers and financiers, in that order.