The Deepfake Widow Series · Book One
The Deepfake Widow
Reality is Only a Deepfake Away
A killer stages murders as memes. DI Midge Rutherford uncovers a wellness guru's subscription-based murder platform, where death is premium content.
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The Deepfake Widow
A Glasgow DI hunts a killer who stages murders as memes—and discovers the audience is paying to watch.
When Kylie McKendrick is found on the Clyde with a diamond-encrusted USB in her mouth, DI Midge Rutherford knows this isn't a random killing. The staging is deliberate, cinematic—a message meant to be photographed and shared. The case spirals when Midge discovers the dead actress’s face was stolen for a royal deepfake, viewed millions of times, and reported to police—who sent her a leaflet and closed the file.
As bodies multiply—each posed as a viral image, each with a diamond USB—Midge uncovers a subscription-based platform where users pay for exclusive access to the murders. The killer is a showrunner, the victims are "content," and the audience is the engine. But the investigation is compromised: a senior officer is on the subscriber list, feeding operational intel to the killer.
With a seventeen-year-old hacker as her only ally, Midge races to stop the next episode before it streams live. But every piece of evidence they gather is legally poisoned, and the killer has designed the platform to survive any takedown. The Deepfake Widow is a razor-sharp thriller about justice, spectacle, and the price of attention in a world that never looks away.
Reader Reviews
What Readers Are Saying
Eerily realistic, "The Deepfake Widow" takes us into, well, today's world, where you can't even trust what you see with your own eyes. When a deepfake video goes viral and a girl is murdered, a less-than-techie detective has to investigate. She connects with a bright young tech kid, and together, they follow the trail of evidence to uncover a deepfake so integrated in reality that it's hard to figure out what the killer is going to do next, and what their ultimate game plan is...besides to completely rock the world for anyone on the internet.
A CannadyThis book jumps straight into the action and tugs on the fears many of us have with technology. These fears are brought to life by DI “Midge” Rutherford and her battered Nokia and an eccentric teenage hacker. I love a good mystery with various ominous and interesting characters, and this book delivers that. The generational and technological gap between them mirrors the book's actual subject, which is how badly institutions (police, media, the monarchy) are lagging what's technically possible to fabricate and monetize. I think the criminals push past the ordinary tech-thriller and tread into satire of true-crime content culture and reality TV, making the book plausible in real life. Definitely a must-read for anyone who loves a good murder mystery thriller.
Taylor GordonA modern-day thriller is the best way I can describe this book. An old-school detective, Midge, has to solve a murder with streaming networks. The idea of people subscribing and changing murder into entertainment is rich. The author, Clark, should be applauded for this unique twist. It's befitting this day and area.
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