Mark T. Pifher

A Death in the Family Mark T. Pifher

A death in the family can result in profound and enduring impacts on the future of those left behind. Tom O'Brien, a journalist, has lost his wife, Laura, to cancer. Katie, his college aged daughter, and Katie's older brother, Brian, no longer have a mother. In an attempt to mend a strained family relationship, father and daughter agree to jointly write a journal, the content of which will focus on their investigation into the brutal murder of a local political operative.



Their efforts will trigger a chain of tragic events, some planned, others seemingly fortuitous. They will uncover a pattern of sexual harassment and assaults in a Congressional office which will lead, in one way or another, to the deaths of Brian's fiancé, the convicted murderer, the father of Katie's best friend, and a United States Senator. Each of these deaths, beginning with the passing of Laura O'Brien, will expose hidden secrets and personal vulnerabilities that will require father and daughter to recognize the existence of an inextinguishable familial light before they can escape a period of intense darkness.