Author of The Chuck Donnegan Mysteries

Ken Sutherland is a retired advertising executive and broadcaster. 

Born and raised in Northern California, his career took him all over the western United States. After many years in Los Angeles, he moved to Nevada where he and his family owned and operated ten radio stations, which they recently sold. Ken now lives in Reno, Nevada with his wife, Alene and their dog, Buddy Holly.

He has written and produced thousands of broadcast commercials, programs and documentaries. When it was time to write a novel, his lifelong love of mysteries left him no choice but to work in that genre. 

HEARTBREAKER is his first novel. Ken Sutherland is active in his local writing community, belonging to both High Sierra Writers and Northern Nevada Writers.

 February 1971

On the morning of the devastating Sylmar Earthquake, pop sensation Vicki La Monica is found dead in her Hollywood Hills home. Police, busy with the earthquake disaster, want to close the case quickly, calling it a drug overdose. But Vicki's father won't buy it. 

Chuck Donnegan is a retired LAPD homicide detective and he knows his daughter would never take drugs. He dives into the ultra-hip world of the seventies music scene, begins a city-wide search for Vicki's missing boyfriend, barges in on her friends, her manager, a rival singer, her record label, and the mysterious Japanese entertainment conglomerate about to buy them. 

Out of place, physically and emotionally exhausted, Chuck's public criticism of the police causes the media to focus on Chuck. They brand him The Vigilante Dad, follow him everywhere and train cameras on his every move. 

When the autopsy reveals drugs in Vicki’s system, Chuck begins to wonder how well he knew his own daughter.

And now someone wants him dead.