July 2021

THE LAST COMMANDMENT is Scott Shepherd’s first thriller, and I am very happy to hear that he is planning a series with his character, Metropolitan Police Commander Austin Grant.

The book opens during Christmastime in London when Grant is weeks from his retirement at the end of the year --- and he is counting the days. He’s still grieving the loss of his wife, and the holidays are particularly tough for him. There have been three seemingly unconnected murders in London. But there is something that gives one pause about the cases. There are sequential Roman numerals on the heads of all the victims. What’s the connection? It’s quickly figured out that the murders are following the Ten Commandments. I started thinking about catechism, which I studied in school, and confess to not remembering all 10 that were drilled into me in third grade.

The fourth murder is in New York at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and it brings Grant stateside. Scott wrote about the city and nailed the traffic at the holidays, as well as a number of locations that many of us who worked or lived there know well. Grant is assisted by an NYPD detective, John Frankel, as well as his own estranged daughter, Rachel. This trio wind and weave their way back to London, where the trail gets hot once again. The murderer is always a good step ahead of them as they try to anticipate what’s next.

Scott has been screenwriting and showrunning for television for years, so the writing here is brisk. The characters will be back; he already has written book two, which will be out in July 2022, and is working on book three. He had thought about these characters for years, and readers will be able to tell how much he enjoys them!