Beneath A Broken Sky
Sandy Lake is in the grip of a miserable summer, and Detective Ben Packard is right in the center of the storm. A tornado has just devastated the county, bringing destruction and a shady group of storm chasers to town. But the chaos turns deadly when a local mother—infamous for defending her bullied son against the town's prejudices—is found murdered. With a massive suspect list, a surprise visitor from his past, and the pressure of navigating life as a gay man in a traditional community, Packard finds this investigation becoming dangerously personal.
- Ben Packard - Deputy with the Sandy Lake police
- Jill - Detective with the Sandy Lake police
- Reynolds - Deputy with the Sandy Lake police
- Ashley - Tom’s wife
- Tom - Ashley’s husband
- Jake and Noah - Tom and Ashley’s children
- Marcus - Ben’s former lover, deceased
- Symphony - Marcus’s sister
- Matthias/Travis - Boss of Fredricksen Construction
- Charlie - Works for Matthias
- Miguel - Works for Matthias
- Luis, Juan, and Francisco - Work for Matthias
- College guy/Blake - Working with Matthias's crew
- Ashley is murdered in her home.
- Just before her death, Ashley received a text from a burner phone. The police call the number and reach a voicemail box for someone calling themselves "Red."
- Symphony shows up at Packard’s house asking about Marcus.
- Symphony gets upset when Packard tells her Marcus was gay.
- Symphony drowned her baby in the bathtub and went to prison. After the incident she was diagnosed with postpartum depression and schizophrenia.
- Matthias and his crew come to Sandy Lake to get work repairing roofs after the town is hit by a huge storm.
- After she went to prison Symphony told Marcus to pretend she was dead, so he did.
- Police are called to the scene of another murder, a man named Gerald.
- Francisco gets into a van with two men and is not seen again.
- Jill tells Packard that while running errands, she thinks she saw the man who killed Gerald.
- A roof caves in while Miguel is working and he falls and dies. Charlie and the others bury Miguel.
- Police get a report of the naked, headless body of Francisco in the middle of a road.
- Francisco testified against his gang members for a reduced sentence. It was the gang who tracked him down and killed him.
- The man who killed Ashley and Gerald goes to Jill’s house and tries to attack her but she fights him off and he runs away.
- Charlie planned to steal money from Matthias and go his separate way, but Matthias discovered the plan and threatened to call the police on Charlie for his outstanding warrant.
- Charlie reveals he knows Matthias is using another man’s ID and credit cards.
- Packard discovers that Matthias possesses an ID belonging to Otto Fredricksen, known as Red, who has a record for breaking hunting laws. Packard also learns that the real Matthias was Otto’s son, who died in a car accident with his sister while still in high school, and that Matthias was the same age as Ashley and that she knew him in high school.
- Otto would now be in his 70’s, but the man being described as Matthias is much younger.
- Blake goes to the police and tells them he was working on a roofing crew, that Miguel died, and that the crew buried him.
- Otto Fredricksen's body is found in his shed at his house in Stevens Point.
- The hotel catches on fire and Charlie dies.
- Matthias’s real name is Travis Kimball.
- Travis killed Otto to steal his business. He killed Ashley because she knew the real Matthias died in a car accident. Gerald hated illegal immigrants and likely provoked Travis by making racist remarks toward Travis’s crew, and Travis went after Jill because she saw him with Gerald.
- The police make a Craigslist post pretending to be Charlie selling off some of the equipment Travis left behind.
- Travis sets up a meeting with ‘Charlie’ and he’s arrested for Otto, Ashley, and Gerald’s murders.
- Packard goes to visit Symphony where she is being treated for cancer.
- Packard and Symphony share stories about Marcus.
Beneath a Broken Sky is the fourth book in the Ben Packard series and is just as good as the rest of the series.
The story is told from both Ben Packard and Charlie’s perspectives. Packard is a very lovable character. I really loved the character of Symphony and her connection to Marcus. Even though we never got to meet Marcus, he was a big part of Packard’s story, so having that connection resurface through her felt meaningful.
As for the actual investigation, it was a really interesting story that I thoroughly enjoyed. It held my attention the whole way through and balanced the police work well with the character dynamics.
- Ashley - Dead - Stabbed by Travis
- Gerald - Dead - Stabbed by Travis
- Miguel - Dead - Fell from a roof
- Charlie - Dead - Died in the hotel fire
- Francisco - Dead - Killed by his former gang
- Travis - Alive - Under arrest for the murders of Otto, Ashley and Gerald
- Symphony - Alive - Fighting cancer and trying to rebuild her life
- Ben Packard - Alive - Moving forward in his relationship with Easton
- Luis - Alive - Headed home to Jalisco
- Juan - Alive - Headed home to Jalisco
- Mention of sexual assault
- Cancer
- Murder
- Hate crime
- Alcohol abuse
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
ISBN: 9781728279046
Publication Date: May 26, 2026
Note: Details are for the original edition. Other formats, editions, and audiobook versions may be available.
