The Commission: A Sam Kincaid Mystery

By Michael Norman

Levi Vogue, Chairman of the powerful Utah Board of Pardons and Parole, is gunned down in the driveway of his home as he returns from a late evening tryst with Sue Ann Winkler, an exotic dancer employed in a Salt Lake City strip club. Sam Kincaid, Chief of the Special Investigations Branch (SIB) of the Utah Department of Corrections, is assigned to help Salt Lake City Police Department homicide detective Lt. Kate McConnell solve Vogue’s murder. The investigation soon leads Kincaid and McConnell into the seedy world of prostitution and strip clubs. Ultimately, the investigation focuses on Charles (Slick) Watts, a violent ex-convict with a long criminal history and a score to settle with Levi Vogue. But before Watts can be apprehended, his body is discovered at an abandoned military base in Wendover, Nevada. When the medical examiner concludes that Watt’s death was a homicide elaborately staged to look like a suicide, Kincaid and McConnell are forced to turn their attention to a complex conspiracy behind the murders. Ultimately, the investigation leads Kincaid and McConnell inside the Utah state prison to a small group of corrupt prison employees known as the Commission. As the police close in, Commission members turn, first on each other, and then on Kincaid.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Release date: Jan 31, 2010
• ISBN: 9781615951420

Michael Norman

Michael Norman has taught at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls for more than twenty-five years. His books include Haunted America, Historic Haunted America, and Haunted Heritage.

Reviews for The Commission

[justacatandabook · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The story in this novel managed to capture my attention fairly well (even if I did figure out a good portion of the plot early on), but the writing was rather painful. The author left nothing to the imagination or inference, but spelled every single plot point, emotion, and thought out. I found myself rolling my eyes fairly often... but still curious as to what would happen next.

[cknikka · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

an ok first book ... not for me... too much like dragnet... going from a to b to c... maybe a fairer comparison would be to the TV show "Law and Order" I will read a second book and try to give him another chance.