A Death Doula Novel: Book 1
Publication Date: January 24, 2023
When F.B.I. agent Emily Gayle’s partner is brutally murdered, Emily forsakes her career at the bureau and returns home to the North Carolina mountains to care for her disabled father. Guilt ridden over leaving her partner alone to die, Emily takes a job as an end-of-life caregiver.
Deep in Appalachia, Jude Courtland is desperate for a fast buck to pay for his grandmother’s chemotherapy. Together with his brother Crispin and cousin, Devo, the trio takes to hijacking insulin delivery vans and selling the stolen drugs on the black market. When Emily is assigned to cancer patient Hazel Courtland, the line separating right and wrong begins to blur.
As the hijackings escalate and turn violent, Emily’s intuition hones in on startling evidence she can no longer ignore.
Struggling with the truth, Emily is torn between her conscience and her loyalty to a dying woman. With her own life in jeopardy, Emily’s forced to take a side. Right or wrong, the consequences are deadly.
What the Monkey Saw delivers a fresh approach toward crime thrillers by showcasing realistic characters caught up in difficult situations.
Former FBI agent Emily Gayle is stuck in a never-ending loop of guilt and grief after a case went horribly wrong. Now, she finds some sort of inner peace serving as a death doula, a companion for the dying.
Author Lynn Chandler Willis delivers a high-quality storyline in What the Monkey Saw. However, readers have to get beyond a book cover that doesn’t reflect what is inside. The cover is not only unappealing, but it looks rather rudimentary. This author deserves to have her work packaged in a professional method to draw new readers.
Emily’s next assignment, Hazel Courtland, is every bit an Appalachian. Her days are numbered, although her adult grandson, Jude, is determined to gather enough funds for chemo. Unfortunately, he has to rely on less-than-legal means to obtain the money. When Emily hears about trucks being hijacked for insulin, which is then being sold on the black market, she starts to notice clues indicating the Courtland brothers are involved in illegal activities.
Anyone who has ever dealt with a dying loved one will appreciate the deep sense of compassion Emily delivers in her care of Hazel. As a grandmother, Hazel emphasizes how good her grandsons are, which puts Emily in an awkward situation. Determined to ensure Hazel’s last moments are peaceful, Emily ignores her FBI training, which puts her in danger.
Can a person do bad things for good reasons, or is it merely an excuse used to rationalize breaking the rules? The story is rich with scenarios that make the reader ask these questions, but there’s a point where the line between black and white is crossed with devastating consequences.
What the Monkey Saw delivers a fresh approach toward crime thrillers by showcasing realistic characters caught up in difficult situations.
Lynn Chandler Willis is a best-selling, multi-award-winning author who has worked in the corporate world, the television news industry, and had a thirteen-year run as the owner and publisher of a small-town newspaper. She lives in the heart of North Carolina on a mini-farm surrounded by chickens, turkeys, ducks, nine grandkids, a sassy little calico named Jingles, and Finn, a brown border collie known to be the best dog in the world. Seriously.
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Thanks for the review. This book sounds like a very interesting read!
Thank you so much for the review! It was wonderful to wake up to. I had to laugh when I read your bio––when I was about 12 or 13, my friends and I shared a tattered copy of a bodice-ripper titled Sweet Savage Love. We kept it hid from our parents 🙂