A Season to Kill is a police procedural mystery novel written by Michael Mucci. When Louella Schmidt reported that her boyfriend was missing, Macon, Pennsylvania, Sheriff Chris DeAngelo was not all that alarmed about the well-being of Roger Sharpe. Sharpe was a ne'er-do-well in town about whom unsavory rumors had been swirling for some time. One such rumor credited the missing man with operating a meth lab; something DeAngelo wouldn't tolerate. It had only been a few days since Sheriff Holbrook had dropped dead from a heart attack, and DeAngelo's promotion still made him somewhat uneasy. Holbrook had mentored him and been patient throughout the blunders and the obvious problems DeAngelo had with alcohol, especially after his parents both died when he was barely out of high school. Louella's veiled references to his drinking echoed what he felt sure the entire town was thinking. When reporter Jake Ranser brought up the odd fact that Sharpe, if he failed to turn up, would be the eleventh Macon resident to disappear without a trace in the month of December, DeAngelo had to consider that something might indeed be amiss in the quiet town he had inherited as the chief law enforcement officer.

Michael Mucci's police procedural novel, A Season to Kill, is an outstanding mystery that kept me captivated and eagerly reading from cover to cover. His police chief, Chris DeAngelo, is a marvelous noir anti-hero whose somewhat dreary life of bars and booze is shaken apart both by the death of his mentor and boss and the collective lack of faith shown him by the citizens he's sworn to protect. Watching him and his deputy, Rosemary Tippets, work to solve the mystery of Sharpe's murder and figure out the common thread linking the ten other missing persons is marvelous indeed. Mucci's plot is first-rate, and his writing style is smooth and assured. His Sheriff DeAngelo speaks in the first-person, making the reader privy to his thoughts and feelings in an upfront and personal way, and this stylistic device works wonderfully. A Season to Kill is a debut novel to be excited about, and this reviewer is eagerly anticipating the author's followup to this book. An impressive debut novel indeed! Michael Mucci's police procedural, A Season to Kill, is most highly recommended.