I Did It For You

Chapter One

I didn't attend the execution, although I was invited. "Invited"-such a civilized word for a string of events that began with my sister's brains being blown out and ended with his veins pumped full of state-sanctioned poison. I heard later, through the grapevine, that his final words were "I shouldn't have done it." A pretty half-assed apology, if you asked me. That same grapevine reported a last meal of chicken-fried steak and twice-baked potatoes, capped off with fresh strawberry shortcake. I wondered, for a long time, if it had been the kind made with biscuits or the kind made with angel food cake. Those were the type of pointless details my mind snagged on to keep it from having to think about uglier ones. Like how long it took him to die. Twelve minutes, for the record. I wish that brought me some pleasure. Or at least more pleasure than it does.

After he was gone, I put him away. Did my best to shove him into the cobwebby corners of my mind where I stored most of my memories about Eliza and that long, sultry summer before she died. And then my father called, left a rusty-voiced message that I had to strain to hear, bourbon breath boiling through the phone. "It's happened again, Greer," he said. A noise that might have been a sob, might have been a cough. "He did it again." I got the details off of the internet, not from my father, an unreliable source on even his best days, of which there were few. An eighteen-year-old couple shot to death where they were tangled together in the front seat of the boy's car. Ludlow, Kansas. My hometown. Change the date, change the names, and it could have been a story about my sister and her boyfriend, Travis. More than a decade of time wiped away in an instant. Back to the moment when my world spun off its axis. Although that's not quite accurate. Less spinning off and more splitting open-all the hairline cracks turned to sudden yawning fissures.

But despite my father's drunken ramblings, Roy Mathews

Amy Engel is the author of The Familiar Dark, The Roanoke Girls, and the Book of Ivy series. A former criminal defense attorney, she lives in Missouri with her family.

In this stellar standalone Engel elevates the already tantalizing mystery with an uncommonly raw portrayal of Greer s grief her palpable inner struggles form the backbone of the novel. Mysteries don t come much better than this.
Publishers Weekly (starred), "Pick of the Week"

"[A] heart-racing page-turner." 
Woman's World

Multilayered and engrossing A tense and immersive novel that considers the delight and darkness of living in a close-knit small town.
BookPage

I love diving into an Amy Engel novel, and I Did It For You is no exception. If you re looking for an engrossing thriller, this one ticks off all the boxes: sleek writing, insight into the complexity of terrible crimes, and a plot that will keep you guessing and turning just one more page late into the night.
Julia Heaberlin, bestselling author of We Are All The Same In the Dark
 
Amy Engel masterfully dredges the depths of small-town darkness. Raw and riveting, I Did It For You belongs at the top of your to read list.
Laura McHugh, Award winning author of What s Done In Darkness

A heart-breaking crime story about the need to make sense of the senseless acts of violence that rip your life apart and how you can t choose who you love Amy Engel is the queen of the small-town mystery.
Laure Van Rensburg, author of Nobody But Us and The Good Daughter

A deeply chilling, beautifully written mystery. I Did It For You is a blistering page-turner, and a complex study of grief and the power of guilt. Amy Engel is a huge talent.
Chris Whitaker, author of We Begin at the End

This is an intense, psychological thriller, that keeps you reading along, wondering who the murderer is. Murder mysteries don t get much better than this one. A perfect summer read.
Red Carpet Crash