This is a murder mystery book surrounding the death of a well known author that uses
the Ennegram to determine personality types of people. Richard Hicks uses the use of the
tool throughout to describe different character actions. The central character is Eddie DeSilva who use to be the San Diego Police Chief till he is force into retirement after a police related incident. Eddie carries with him a lot of emotional baggage but is not the type to reveal it. He is assigned to talk to a psychiatrist named Pauline who tries to get him to open up but to no avail. When Pauline's old friend Vincent Whorley is "murdered" although he was pretty much on his death bed she enlists the help of former police chief DeSilva to get to the bottom of this mystery since Vincent's daughter Allison is being charged with his murder. Although Eddie is no longer police chief he uses his influence to get information from different people involved with different aspects of the investagation. Eddie has a house but likes to sleep on his boat since the house reminds him of his late wife Vivian whom he still hears her voice in regards to the direction of his life. While Eddie and Pauline work the case, a nice relationship forms between the two. As the relationship develops Eddie becomes more at ease with Pauline and opens up about his past especially surrounding the circumstances around his wife's death. As Eddie digs deeper into the mystery of the assisted suicide of Vincent Whorley, he is the victim of his boat and car being tampered with to put a stop to his snooping. As the story is told and you meet different characters, you are left wondering who actually committed this crime or did Vincent do it to himself.  The person who did it will suprise you as it did me but the reason that most murders of this type happen is because of greed. The oldest reason in the world. I was pleasantly suprised at some of the revelations in the book and I was happy that Eddie found what he was looking for in all aspects of his afterlife as police chief.

Reviewed on 11/17/2010 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Larissa Cochran

Murder by the Numbers: The Righteous ONE, An Enneagram Mystery by Richard Hicks

The first in a rather different mystery series, has the victim been murdered? Was it a suicide? An mercy killing?  Richard Hicks has hit it on the nose with his new series. Chief Eddie DeSilva has just taken early retirement under pressure. His wife had died 10 months earlier in the final throes of cancer, and he has been under a psychologist's care since a shooting incident which, though considered clean, gave rise to suspicions that he was not coping with his wife's death nor having killed a man.

In his reality, he is aware that he is no longer with the department, but his sense of justice will not let him go. When his psychologist, Pauline Graham, asks him for help for a friend of hers, he finds himself drawn into a case he has no business being in. But her friend is believed to have administered a fatal dose of drugs to her father, in terrible pain in his anticipated last few days of terminal illness. Assisted suicide could be construed as murder and the police have arrested Allison

We are introduced to the field of Enneagrams in this series, a personality typing system used by psychologists, therapists, business executives as a method of understanding personalities for whatever direction their particular business takes them.  Pauline, a strong supporter of the Enneagram, is convinced that it is not possible for Allison to perform this act, nor for her very religiously faithful and upstanding Catholic father to commit suicide.

Eddie takes on the case like the bulldog he has always been, calling in favors from friends on the force, jeopardizing them with the new police chief, and putting himself in disfavor with her as well. He has gone from being a favorite among the department to a liability and warned off the case, but he just can't leave it alone.

Since his wife's death, Eddie has been sleeping on his boat, but suddenly it seems he has become a target when someone sabotages his boat, then causes a near-fatal accident. Having been a police chief for so many years, these incidents are treated as possible revenge acts by ex-cons.  Everything starts to heat up, though, and it's anybody's guess what is really going on.  A surprise admission of guilt redirects the whole case of the possible mercy killing.  Within hours the case is redirected again as the pace gets faster and faster until the last red herring is pitched, leaving us wondering how many "accidents", how many deaths, how many secrets were part and parcel of this great first novel.  I'm ready for the next one. Well-written and flowing, characterizations spot-on, subject matter quite fascinating. If you're looking for a new series, look no further.

Reviewed on 04/15/2010 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Betty Gelean

Reviewed on 11/27/2009 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Jud Hanson

Author Richard Hicks has done it again! Murder by the Numbers, the Righteous One is not only an excellent mystery; it provides a unique take on the characters through the application of the Enneagram personality typing system. The Enneagram takes common personality types and applies a number to them which psychologists often use to help their patients understand themselves better. I didn’t know much about it before I read the book and the author included just enough information to make me comfortable without getting too technical or textbook-like.

In the beginning of the story we are introduced to Eddie DeSilva, a cop being forced to retire who has also recently lost his wife to cancer. He doesn’t really know what to do with himself when he gets a call from psychologist Pauline Graham asking him to look into the death of her friend Vincent Whorley. Vincent was dying of cancer and his daughter, Allison, was being accused by the police of helping him end his life early. Eddie sets out to discover what really happened and, along the way, has to deal with someone trying to hurt him, and the ghost of his wife who he may or may not have helped to die.

Besides the uniqueness of making the Enneagram part of the story, I really felt Richard Hicks dealt with the controversial topic of euthanasia, or mercy killing, in an objective way. The subject was discussed from a legal standpoint, thanks to his background as an attorney, and also by several characters with differing views. I didn’t feel any particular opinion was being shoved down my throat but it did make me think and there is certainly nothing wrong with that.

Make no mistake, even with the Enneagram and discussions on mercy killing, Murder by the Numbers is definitely a mystery novel. Finding out the who, what, where, when and why, of Vincent Whorley’s death is the heart of the story and Richard Hicks has written an awesome tale with some interesting and unexpected twists. So, if you like mysteries, give this book, or any Richard Hicks novel, a try. He hasn’t let me down yet and I am eagerly awaiting his next book.

Reviewed on 08/17/2009 by ReviewTheBook.com Member April Hanson

Reviewed on 08/02/2009 by ReviewTheBook.com Member Arianna Grainey