Truman Capote's masterpiece IN COLD BLOOD was based on the brutal killings of a family in Holcomb, Kansas. Perry Smith and Dick Hickok were tried and executed for the killings. But, what if they were not alone? What if there was a third person and he got away? What would he do to get his hands on a written confession by Dick Hickok, that explains it all? Retired FBI agent Brigid Quinn and her husband, Carlos, who is an ex-priest and now a university professor, are trying to live a quiet life with their dogs. However, Carlos was once a prison chaplain, and that is what brings a killer to their doorstep. A man who would do anything to get rid of any evidence of his involvement with one of the most famous crimes in modern history.

Now, this book was one that I was really eager to read. I've not read IN COLD BLOOD, but I listened not long ago to FURIOUS HOURS by Casey Cep and the book brought up the killing in Holcomb, and the investigation Truman Capote and Harper Lee did for Capote's book. So, I was pretty thrilled to read a thriller based on that crime. This is the first Becky Masterman book I've read so I was curious to see how the book would be. And the book started strong and then the story lost its hold on me. I'm actually really sad to have to write this, but the book, despite having great characters, both Brigid and Carlos and their interesting backgrounds and not to mention Brigid's slightly creepy niece Gemma-Kate, but, the story, the man who is after the document, is just such a bumbling foolish old man, never scary. The image one gets of the person he was as a child just didn't match the man he was as an adult. I mean his plan to kill Brigid keeps failing over and over again like in a comedy. I felt the more I read, the more I grew tired of the story and just wished it would finish.

WE WERE KILLERS ONCE had the potential to be a great book, but the story just couldn't keep me interested all the way and the third killer storyline that could have been so great just didn't work for me. Still, I found the main characters interesting and wouldn't mind reading another book in the series.

Book Summary

In 1959, a family of four were brutally murdered in Holcomb, Kansas. Perry Smith and Dick Hickok were convicted and executed for the crime, and the murders and their investigation and solution became the subject of Truman Capote's masterpiece, In Cold Blood. But what if there was a third killer, who remained unknown? What if there was another family, also murdered, who crossed paths with this band of killers, though their murder remains unsolved? And what if Dick Hickok left a written confession, explaining everything?

Retired FBI agent Brigid Quinn and her husband Carlo, a former priest and university professor, are trying to enjoy each other in this new stage in their lives. But a memento from Carlo's days as a prison chaplain--a handwritten document hidden away undetected in a box of Carlo's old things--has become a target for a man on the run from his past. Jerry Beaufort has just been released from prison after decades behind bars, and though he'd like to get on with living the rest of his life, he knows that somewhere there is a written record of the time he spent with two killers in 1959. Following the path of this letter will bring Jerry into contact with the last person he'll see as a threat: Brigid Quinn.

Becky Masterman's unputdownable thrillers featuring unique heroine Brigid Quinn continue with this fascinating alternative look at one of America's most famous crimes.