Chair of psychology at Stetson University also reveals another mystery thriller in the works.

Suicide Kings, the first work of fiction by Chris Ferguson, Ph.D., is in its second printing in preparation for worldwide distribution.

“It is unexpected, but I’m really pleased that the book has been so well received,” said Ferguson, associate professor and chair of the Psychology Department at Stetson University.

A trip to Florence, Italy, gave Ferguson the idea to write a novel based in that city during the Renaissance. The book opens with the main character, Diana, preparing to attend her mother’s funeral. As she sobs over her mother’s casket, another member of the procession reveals the awful truth – her mother was murdered. The book details Diana’s struggle to come to terms with her mother’s death — and other family secrets she discovers — as she works to find the killer.

“I don’t know what inspired me to write this story, but while I was traveling in Florence I remember thinking, ‘what a great city to die in,’” said Ferguson. “It seemed to me that the odds of a young, single woman getting justice in Renaissance Italy were very low.”

Ferguson has authored or co-authored several books and journal articles on psychology and violent crime. Suicide Kings is his first fiction novel, but not the last.

“I have already written a second book,” said Ferguson. “It’s an urban fantasy about a 14-year-old girl living in a haunted orphanage in Rhode Island.” In this Gothic horror, The Secrets of Grimoire Manor, the main character moves between the orphanage and an equally haunted, 19-century Prague while she sleeps.

Suicide Kings is available online.