SAVING STACY

St. Clair’s debut historical novel challenges the official record of a real-life multiple murder in a small Midwestern farm community.

In 2005, 15-year-old Stacy Moody “didn’t think that bad things could happen in rural Ohio,” where she lived. But according to authorities, on May 29 of that year, her 18-year-old brother, Scott, shot and killed their mother, their grandparents, his 14-year-old girlfriend, and two other friends before fatally shooting himself. He also allegedly shot Stacy twice, but she survived. The sheriff closes the investigation just hours after the shooting occurs; according to his theory of the crime, Scott was a “disturbed young man” who was unable to handle his family’s financial issues. But Stacy, in this novel, tells investigators a different story: She describes the shooter as an older man with short gray hair and a larger build than Scott’s. St. Clair points out further intriguing inconsistencies in the case; for example, the timing of the shots that Stacy heard seems inconsistent with the official account. As presented here, it seems like an understatement when St. Clair concludes that “There is probably more to this story than the public will ever know.” This riveting novel has all the ingredients that true-crime fans crave. St. Clair served as the administrator of Scott’s estate and, for that reason, some readers may question his point of view on these events. However, he does a compelling job of chronicling them in this novel, establishing a sense of the community, profiling the participants, and making the complicated matter of a poorly written will accessible. His most searing indictment is of the investigating Logan County Sheriff’s Office: “Is it corrupt? Incompetent? Guilty of misfeasance, malfeasance, negligence, untrustworthy? All of the above?” he writes. A climactic chapter relates a phone call that the sheriff’s office received that suggests a new scenario regarding the killings.

An engagingly written book that may heat up a cold case.