The Feather of Truth

After ten years on the Surrey Police Force as its preeminent sleuth, Detective Chief Inspector Kofi Ghazini has seen so many seemingly ordinary people commit horrific crimes, he wonders if the capacity for murder lies within everyone.

The British educated, Nigerian immigrant's dour view of humanity is proven yet again with the death of a powerful investment banker's beautiful wife. The woman died in agony after ingesting a highly unusual poison - hardly a common cause of death in her upscale London neighborhood. All the evidence points to her husband Chuck Jelleners, an abusive and arrogant man on record as saying he wanted to be rid of her.

Ghazini increasingly believes the police have the wrong man. His own suspicions fall on the banker's most trusted lieutenant, Richard de L'Isle - a man ready and willing to step into his imprisoned boss's position. There's just one problem: none of the evidence implicates him. De L'Isle is clean. Or at least, he seems to be.

A cerebral thriller, "The Feather of Truth" is the first in author Ian Campbell-Laing's DCI Kofi Ghazini series. Everyone - even Ghazini - has secrets they want to stay buried. Some are willing to kill to keep it that way.