Dead in the Water - by Penny Farmer (Paperback)

About the Book

In this shocking, heart-wrenching true-crime drama, a forty-year-old double murder brings together a grieving family and two brothers--just kids when they witnessed their father commit the brutal act--to track down a psychopath once suspected as being the Golden State Killer

Book Synopsis

"This account by Farmer is both intimate but also the dispassionate, clear version you'd expect from a journalist."--OprahMag.com, "20 Best True Crime Books"

In this shocking true-crime drama, a forty-year-old double murder brings together a grieving family and two brothers--just kids when they witnessed their father commit the brutal act--to track down a psychopath once suspected as being the Golden State Killer.

"A real-life page turner more intriguing than anything on Netflix." -Matt Nixson, Books Editor, Mail on Sunday (London)

In 1978, two tortured corpses--hooded, bound, and weighted down with engine parts--were found in the sea off Guatemala. Junior doctor Chris Farmer and his girlfriend, Peta Frampton, were still clinging to life when they were thrown from the yacht they'd been crewing.

Here is the gripping account of how Chris's family worked alongside police, the FBI, and Interpol to gather evidence against the boat's Californian skipper, Silas Duane Boston. Almost four decades later, in 2015, Chris's sister, Penny, used Facebook to track down Boston. Following the detailed, haunting testimony of his own two sons--who also implicated their father in a string of other killings--Boston was finally arrested and charged with two counts of maritime murder.

A story of homicide on the high seas, Dead in the Water is also a tale of a family's fortitude and diligence in tracking down a monster.

Review Quotes

"[A] moving debut....This engrossing, heartbreaking story is sure to appeal to true crime fans." --Publishers Weekly

"The gripping story of a woman who turned detective to track down her brother's killer--nearly four decades after he was brutally murdered. A real-life page turner more intriguing than anything on Netflix." --Matt Nixson, Books Editor, Mail on Sunday, London

"[A story] almost too mad to make up, too good not to tell and which one day, no doubt, will be a film." --Ben Dirs, BBC World News USA and Canada

"This account by Farmer is both intimate but also the dispassionate, clear version you'd expect from a journalist."--OprahMag.com, "20 Best True Crime Books"