Steve McManus

What if the wrongfully convicted man you helped free isn’t the innocent victim you think he is? What if someone is killing people who know the truth to keep the past where it belongs?

That’s the dilemma facing armchair activist Evelyn McCurdles when she gets a notorious murderer released from prison in THE INNOCENCE MISSION, my 92,000-word thriller about injustice and the dangers of fixing history. Driven by a determined heroine whose deep convictions belie a volatile temper, THE INNOCENCE MISSION is a standalone with series potential and will appeal to fans of gritty and atmospheric books like SMALL TOWN SINS by Ken Jaworowski and WE ARE ALL GUILTY HERE by Karin Slaughter.

Amateur web sleuth Evelyn McCurdles spent eighteen months dismantling the case against Charlie Hayward, who confessed to murdering two girls in his rural hometown twenty years ago. Now he’s getting out, and Evelyn intends to be there when he does. Assisted by a cynical local girl who thinks Evelyn’s the most interesting thing in town, she talks with anyone who was involved in Charlie’s case while facing growing hostility from a community that blames her for the return of the boogeyman they thought they’d banished forever.

But doubts about Charlie’s innocence bloom like deadly nightshade when a woman he used to know is killed just hours after his release. With the town ready to lynch him on sight, Evelyn must unravel the corruption and violence that tied Charlie’s murder conviction together before anyone else dies and find out if she’s made a colossal mistake, or if the same machinery that sent an innocent man to prison is out to get them both now.

steve@stevemcmanus.com