The Silver Necklace

“A fascinating glimpse into complex characters on both right and wrong sides of the law, by author and retired judge Jack Billings, who undoubtedly has seen both up-close.”

Randi Bjornstad, career journalist, founder, Eugene Scene, e-magazine

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Police always encounter people they never forget. For Megan O’Brian, one was Chad Mitchell, a scared, mistreated little boy she encountered while working as a juvenile corrections officer. She always wondered what happened to him. Then they met again.

By then a sheriff’s detective, O’Brian was lead investigator for the disappearance of talented Cassie Edwards, who failed to return home from her regular bus trip to and from a piano lesson after her 15th birthday party. She wore as always her favorite gift, a beautiful and unusual necklace, given to her by her grandmother.

The trail goes frustratingly cold as O’Brian and fellow investigators, Cal Underwood and Herman Jackson, search in vain for clues to her whereabouts and her fate, until a deer poacher finds Cassie’s body in a remote area.

But finding her killer eludes them, until O’Brian has a sudden, middle-of-the-night realization: a photograph Jackson had taken of recovered stolen property in another case. One of those photos shows an unusual necklace, identical to the one Cassie wore in a picture from her birthday party.

Did Cassie’s killer take the necklace as a trophy? How did it get into a trove of stolen property? Did the killer try to get rid of it? Or was it stolen from the killer? And who were they looking for?

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“Well-developed characters, engaging story, professional police work. A good read.”

Kurt Wuest, Lane County Sheriff’s Detective (ret.)

“Untreated autism, methamphetamine addiction, interstate fencing of stolen property propel this story of murder and apprehension to a conclusion.”

Chuck Tilby, Captain, Eugene Police Department (ret.)

“Billings’ writing evokes Michael Connelly. A bus system’s operation is cleverly woven into the plot.”

Mark Pangborn, General Manager, Lane Transit District (ret.)

Jack Billings is a retired trial judge, attorney and prosecutor. He began writing for pleasure with a series of national and international journal articles featuring his domestic and foreign river trips and a motor launch flotilla through the Inside Passage of British Columbia.

He first published a collection of short stories titled Some of This Is Real in 2020. His first novel, Bargains, was published by Austin Macauley Publishers in 2021.

He lives with Linda DeSpain on a wooded acreage outside Eugene, Oregon.