Countdown to Murder (novel)

After the commotion subsided, Inspector Battle stood firmly before the assembled crowd, his expression reflecting a determination to uncover the truth. The crime was complex, the threads tangled, but one suspect's defense rested on a single phrase: "e;I can't swim."e; He swore by it, clinging to it as a shield to deflect suspicion. But when the crucial test arrived, it became clear that he was indeed telling the truth. At this point, Battle turned to the expectant faces and asked in a deep voice: Who, then, swam across the river? Who was on the other side at that fatal moment? Who disappeared during that critical period, possessing the strength, the courage, and the motive?The evidence was cunningly rearranged: gloves, stains, fabricated confessions all leading to a dead end. Until the investigation revealed that only one person possessed the underlying motive: a man burdened by grief and tormented by shame, who had lost everything and awaited a death that never came. The events of the novel draw you into the heart of the game, where nothing is as it seems, and where every detail could be either a key or a trap. With each page, the timer gets closer to zero, and the truth becomes more dangerous than the crime itself.