The Last Whisper of Innocence: A Family Crime Thriller - Paperback

by Jackie L. Smith (Author)

Cyril Butterworth spent forty years fixing buildings for Kern County and fifteen years trying to fix his daughter. He kept a notebook - every dollar, every date, every prayer - hidden in the bottom drawer of his desk. The last entry read: "$0 - God help me."

Two weeks later, someone he trusted walked through his front door and killed him.

When Cyril's eldest son, Archie - a Marine veteran turned Wall Street trader - is arrested for the murder, the evidence is damning: no alibi, financial motive, and a sister who points the investigation straight at him. Facing life in prison for a crime he didn't commit, Archie calls the only people he trusts with his life - three fellow Marines who drop everything and come to Bakersfield to find the truth.

What they uncover is a trail of meth money, motorcycle club violence, and a family secret that runs deeper than any of them imagined. At the center of it all is a daughter who gave away the key to her father's house - and a porch light that never stopped burning.

The Last Whisper of Innocence is a gripping family crime thriller about brotherhood, betrayal, addiction, and the devastating cost of silence - from the author of Brynn Thornwick: Guardian of the Crimson Crown and Atlas Drummond: Fragments of Deceit.