Vincent Zandris Murder By Moonlight: about the book Synopses

Author synopsis: Murder by Moonlight is a dark, noir-inspired story of good versus almost epic evil. Its a novel based on real events and real people born out of the suburbs we all know too well. The upwardly mobile kind of suburb filled with men and women who live beyond their means and who insist on outdoing one another while living out a life of desperation and ruined dreams. Its inside one of these white bread suburbs of Albany, NY, called Bethlehem, that Christopher Parker is born and raised. Hes a really good, handsome kid. The kind of kid any parent would want. Tall, handsome, great with animals (he works for a vet when not in school), the college age, clean-cut young man is even an Eagle Scout. So when his parents, Joan and Peter Parker become the victims of a brutal axe attack while they sleep in their beds, the outraged Bethlehem community cant believe it. They also find it hard to believe that Christopher is the main suspect in the Bethlehem polices eyes. But then, unlike her husband, Joan survived the attack in which initially, she fingered her son Chris as the perp. Now, months later, after many exhausting facial surgeries, the still very weak Joan is recanting her story. She claims she doesnt remember what happened that night. Her son Christopher means the world to her. He could never have taken an axe to she and her husband. Not Christopher. Not in beautiful Bethlehem. A suburb that might look pristine on the outside, but on the inside holds a horrible secret: Its the home of a secret Great Society founded three hundred years ago which still carries out human sacrifices in order to gain power from some pretty bad demons. With the Great Societys eerily dark and evil underbelly as a backdrop, Joan hires suicide survivor Dick Moonlight to prove to the cops and the world that Chris could not have committed such a heinous crime. When Moonlight reluctantly takes the job on, hes not sure hes ever going to be able to find a shred of evidence that will prove the kid didnt do it. But then, hes got a piece of .22 caliber bullet in his brain. He doesnt always think straight. Hes Captain Head Case, even if he is obsessed with finding out the truth to the mysteries he takes on. But since he could die at any moment, hes not always the first private detective someone might choose for a job. But he takes the job on knowing it will provide not a decent payday necessarily, but a payday nonetheless. But in the process of going after the truth behind the Parker attempted murder and murder, he uncovers a sinister plot that not only involves Christopher, but many of the people who have lived and already died in lovely Bethlehema sleepy suburb that just might in fact be a hell on earth. AUTHORS NOTE: Murder is based on a true story of Chris Porco, which took place in the real town of Bethlehem, N.Y., just outside of Albany. For some direct links to the real story go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Porco

Amazon synopsis: In Murder by Moonlight, Vincent Zandris cunning detective Dick Moonlight returns with his toughest case yet: proving an open-and-shut murder investigation isnt over at all. Joan Parker is the last woman private eye Dick Moonlight would ever expect to see in his Albany office. From the right side of the tracksneighboring Bethlehemshe bears her upper class upbringing as effortlessly as a string of pearls. She also bears a scar running down her head and facea brutal reminder of the ax attack that took the life of her husband. Her twenty-one-year-old son, Christopher, now sits in jail charged with the crime. According to the official reportbased on Joans answers to police when they arrived at the house and found her barely aliveshe identified Christopher as the culprit. But sitting in Moonlights office, she reveals that she has no recollection of the event, yet is certain of one thing: Christopher didnt do it. Moonlight knows a thing or two about being nearly dead. And he also knows the tragedy of the police jumping to the wrong conclusionsa past case of a falsely accused client still haunts himso he agrees to take the job and get to the truth of what happened that day. At first the trail of cluesfrom the crime scene to Joans original accusationkeeps the finger pointed at Christopher. But soon Moonlight turns up something he never unexpected, something more sinister than anything hes ever come up against.

Characters
Richard Dick Moonlight: Years ago, Dick Moonlight, 48, distraught over the marriage of his ex-wife to his former partner in the Albany Police Department, sat down drunk at the kitchen table of his dads house, pressed the barrel of a .22 caliber revolver up against his temple and almost pulled the trigger. When the vision of his then three year old son, Bear, came into his brain, he suddenly decided to live. But Moonlight was drunk and as he pulled the pistol away, he depressed the trigger. The hollow point bullet shattered against his skull, a small piece of which entered his brain and lodged itself up beside his cerebral cortex making an operation a practical impossibility. Now, during moments of stress, Moonlight can pass out, enter into coma or even die on the spot. He often times makes the wrong decision, like sleeping with the police chiefs wife or with a client or the girlfriend of an enemy, but he is also, ironically, a healthy man, since he must maintain an active exercise routine at the insistence of his general practitioner. He lifts weights and runs but he also likes to drink. He shaves his head and wears a scruffy perpetual three day growth and his daily uniform consists of a black leather waist length coat, black jeans, combat boots left over from his tour in the Gulf War and a black T shirt. He carries a Browning .38 in a shoulder holster and the same .22 caliber pistol he used to blow his brains out concealed around his right ankle. He loves his son, is always lonely because he is completely and hopelessly in love with a woman named Lola who, at the time of Murder by Moonlight, is supposed to be dead (See Moonlight Rises and Blue Moonlight). He is obsessed with finding the truth to any given assignment even if it means breaking the law or shooting a bad guy to get at it. He is capable of anything

because he can die at any moment. He drives around in his late mortician fathers black Cadillac funeral hearse. Think Bruce Willis meets Jason Statham. Joan Parker: The wife of the former law clerk and fellow axe attack victim, Peter Parker. She is prim and proper to a fault. Even with a steel plate in her head and one eye now missing, she maintains the ability to put herself together handsomely with expensive clothing and jewelry. She always wanted to be rich but her husband, instead of going into private practice, decided to become a law clerk because he believed in the system of law and order like a religion. Its tough to tell whether she is denying the truth about her son trying to kill her or she truly believes that he would never do such a thing. In her mind, a mothers love for a son overrides everything. Even the axe murder of her husband. Even the axe attack on herself, which has left her disfigured and half blind. Peter Parker: Dead at the opening of the book, he is nonetheless a major character in the story via flashback. After having had his brains bashed in by the axe attack which occurred while he slept in the middle of the night, Peter didnt die right away. He actually got up on the morning and, with his brains exposed and blood pouring down his face, went about his morning routine, which included writing a $500 check to his son Christopher (something that will prove a vital clue later on). After making the coffee and taking in the morning paper, Peter even attempted to read some emails, all the while oblivious to his head wounds. He literally ran on autopilot until he dropped dead from blood loss at the bottom of the stairs in the homes vestibule. Christopher Parker: A tall, dark-haired, handsome, bespectacled college student. Also an Eagle Scout and veterinary assistant. He speaks in an almost boyish, polite manner, often using the proper Mister and Misses when addressing older people. Always a smile on his face, he is devoted to his mother. He is a young man his parents could be proud of. That is if he didnt harbor an almost pathological obsession over money. He tells his friends at school that his parents are rich and have homes in New York and Connecticut. He purchases a Jeep which he cant afford but he is able to obtain by forging his dads signature on the loan. As time goes on, his dad will begin to learn the horrible truth about Christopher: That he is a psychopath. His goal is to become a vested member of the Great Society which is run by his former scout master and across-the-street neighbor, Maxwell Okey Dokey, and in doing so must perform a series of sacrifices in order to prove his worth. Chris believes in the society with all his heart and believes it will protect him against Moonlight, against the Albany and Bethlehem police departments, and against the FBI. Jonathan Parker: Chriss big brother who is a Navy man. He is a tall, wiry, blond, hot head and at first has trouble believing his brother could be capable of murder. But he will later learn the truth about Chris having committed murder on several occasions, beginning when he was a boy. Maxwell Okey Dokey: Fiftysomething, portly neighbor who lives directly across the street from the Parkers. He is a nosy neighbor who spots Moonlight the moment he begins doing on-site detective work at the now abandoned Bethlehem home, which is also an active crime scene. Maxwell dresses almost like a farmer in jeans and red and black Makinaw coat, a hunters cap on his head. At present its Christmas so he is tinkering with the light up Santa and Reindeer set up on his lawn and using a heavy

axe (another clue) to chop down a dead tree. At first he pretends to portray Chris as the killer. But later on he will take it all back during a Satan-like human sacrificial ceremony inside the basement of a cabin in the woods which is part of the old, now abandoned boy scout camp. Doctor Robinson: Forty-something vet Chris works for in his spare time. A Great Society member in training, he is tall, bearded, lanky, married but a sort of metrosexual who is secretly in love with Chris. Chris is aware of his feelings however and uses him to perform evil acts in his place. It is Doc Robinson who does the actual swinging of the axe in the Parker bedroom. Bethlehem PD Detective Charles Bowman: Tall, well dressed, even richly dressed for a suburban detective. He immediately fingered Chris as the perp when the attacks went down, and hes sticking to his story no matter what Moonlight comes up with. He is the father of a boy, Charles Jr., who years ago killed himself via shotgun blast to the head. Turns out a young Chris assisted Charles Jr. in blowing his own brains out in the very same Boy Scout camp where the Great Society secretly meets. Bowman will also appear to kill himself during the course of the investigation, but in reality, he will be murdered by his half-brother, APD Chief Daly. APD Chief Daily: The older and physically bigger half-brother of Bowman. He is a big, red-faced drinker and corrupt from head to toe. He is also a Great Society member and wants to shut his brothers investigation down. In doing so, he has him killed while making it look like a suicide. Steve Ferrance: Intrepid thirtysomething newspaper reporter who is covering the story. He hooks up with Moonlight during the course of his investigation and in doing so becomes a sacrificial axe murder victim of the Great Society along with Moonlight. Ferrance ends up being killed but Moonlight is saved at the last moment by Jonathan Parker. Terry Kindler: Chris Parkers lawyer. A dapper, bowtie-wearing, old-school lawyer who doesnt care if Chris attacked his parents or not. He just sets his sights on proving him not guilty. Megan Riley: Mother of an abducted and later murdered child, Christina Riley. She was stalked by Chris years ago and he was responsible for taking her daughter and killing her. Megan, who is blamed for her daughters death, dies of a broken heart in prison. Christina Riley: four year old daughter of Megan Riley. Freddie Fireman Parker: The Uncle of Chris Parker and brother of Peter Parker. While Peter is angel white, Freddie is a dark, underworld figure who works for the mob. A third tier wise guy, he is presently doing time at Green Haven Prison. He is short, and portly, clean shaven, in his fifties. He loves to cook and the prison has granted he and his mafia cohorts special kitchen privileges. Its thought by Moonlight that maybe the Parker attacks were actually a mob-initiated hit since Peter Parker testified against his brother in a court of law and thats what sent the Fireman to prison in the first place. But Freddie ends up being a sort of likable guy while he lets Moonlight in on a dark secret: Chris is a psycho killer. Doctor OConnor: Stuffy law professor who is testifying for Bowman and the Bethlehem cops, but who is actually on the take from them in exchange for his expert testimony.

Erin: Chriss girlfriend. Young, thin, with long brunette hair and brown eyes, she loves Chris so much she is willing to enter into the Great Society along with him. She ends up spilling the beans to Moonlight after some cocktails. Aviva: Fortysomething, attractive and stylish on again/off again girlfriend of Moonlight. She is African American and an artist and sometime art teacher. She often offers Moonlight advice on his case.

Tone
Anything can happen in a Moonlight novel; a 300-page, dark, atmospheric Batman-like comic if you will. Moonlight is a character who can literally get the daylights beat out of him (in a couple of cases, he suffers a clinical death), but he will always come back stronger than ever. If he makes mistakesand he makes a lot of themhe tries to learn from them, but often fails and therefore gets himself into more trouble. In a way, he is a very human, fallible character who can also do some pretty heroic things in the name of all that is right and essentially good. That said, the tone of Murder by Moonlight, while having genuine moments of levity and love, is undeniably dark. If I were filming it, I might rely heavily on grainy black and white undertones and the contrasting of light versus dark, illumination versus shadows, flame versus black smoke...That sort of thing. I would stress the existential nature of Moonlight. Moving through life with the understanding that at any moment it could end. That situation exists for all of us, but for a man with a piece of bullet in his brain, the situation is far more pronounced and it takes on a more nihilistic tone. Thats why the final pages of almost every Moonlight book, including Murder, will find the private detective pulling up the collar on his leather coat, and walking not into the sunlight, but instead, into the inverted arcs of sodium lamplight that spill down onto the concrete jungle, the neon lit bars and grilles calling out his name as a cold, steady rain pelts his face. This is a noir novel that would make great film noir in the spirit of modern classics like se7en, Millers Crossing, Blade Runner, Basic Instinct, and others.

More resources

For a previously-produced Dick Moonlight trailer click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swD2jAS03I