The Three Horsemen

A small town in northern Michigan is bursting with pride for its native sons, three high school football players who have more talent than a town this size should ever have. Dubbed "The Three Horsemen," they have already pledged to play for three of the top university football programs in the country. But it never happens. Weeks after the football season ends, one of the Horsemen is killed in a school shooting. The killing shocks the school and the entire, normally peaceful, community. The investigation leads to a stunning prospect that the death may have been part of a sinister plot to set a new state record for school killings — the previous record was set in 1927 when 45 people, most of them students, were killed in a school bombing in Bath, Michigan. The bombing essentially wiped out a generation from the mid-Michigan community.

In the midst of a media zoo that has attracted national attention, the deputy chief of police attempts to uncover the facts, despite pushback from community leaders. The deputy chief develops an unsettling relationship with a teacher who was first on the scene of the killing. He's a former Army Ranger who struggles with PTSD and has some crazy ideas that are driven by a sixth sense.

The Three Horsemen is a fictional suspense novel based on the harsh realities facing our schools today. It tackles issues such as sports hero worship, school security, LGBTQ+ stereotypes, and whispers of parapsychology. The novel is 80,000 words.