Demon of Oakhaven

Painted in Death (Will Anderson and Casey Murphy Novel, Book 1)

By: Mark Harrington

Narrated by: Elizabeth Grulke

In the peaceful lakeside town of Oakhaven, murder leaves a mark—white-painted skin, a rough red “O,” and a body arranged like a grim piece of art.

Detective Will Anderson has encountered this before. Now, the killer is active in broad daylight on Ravenwood University’s campus, leaving behind not only bodies but also front-page editorials mocking law enforcement and daring them to catch him.

Paired with Detective Casey Murphy—new to the division, sharp-witted, and unshaken by much—Will must unravel the pattern before another young woman disappears. But every move they make seems to be exactly what the killer wants.

Because in Oakhaven, the past doesn’t just haunt—it hunts. And this predator is keeping score.

"The bodies are my canvas. The blood is my paint. And every stroke brings you closer to your last breath, Detective."

©2025 W Mark Harrington (P)2025 W Mark Harrington

If a Bad Skinemax Movie was written by a Stephen King fan

If you like the genre it's certainly an entry and will fill a need for murder mystery/procedural. It feels like parts of it are out of order, and there's exposition you wish you had at the beginning dead in the middle. characters are paper thin, motivations are at the level of a 13 year old boy for every single character. The setting is idyllic, but doesn't matter to the story the way I hoped it would, but there are some nice descriptions that evoke Lake life in South Carolina.

There's something here, and I would probably read the author again, for what that's worth. But I would hope he would take some time to read some Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie with the eye of a writer if he intends to write more. Learn to write dialogue that doesn't feel like a hormonal 13 year old wrote it. Pick up some tips on ordering and pacing a story. Pay close attention to how they devlop characters and express their motivation.

The performance of the reader was good. I think the southern town should have a few southern accents, or any accents (seeing as Lake Murray courts so many folks from all over) at all in the performance and characterization, but that would require the characters to have any sort of substance and history at all.

I look forward to spending more time in Oakhaven, I just hope it's a little more well formed and a little less tawdry, garish, and vulgar.