ABOUT THE BOOK 

Mercy or Murder?

"When I was thirteen years old, I murdered my grandfather. Looking back, I didn't do a very good job, but I was lucky and no one guessed that it was anything other than an accident."

Thus begins the story of Mallory Bone Merrill, an exuberant child of wealthy parents, a young wife and loving mother, and a serial murderer. But is she really a murderer or an angel of mercy? Mallory kills not for money or hate, but for compassion. But though she kills in the name of mercy, she kills nonetheless.

Justifying her grandfather’s death as a mercy killing, Mallory goes on to help others who seek her services. “The Eskimo,” as she becomes known, together with her associates, “Dr. Death” and “The Candy Man,” assists the terminally ill and effectively ends their last tortured days, helping them achieve what Mallory is convinced is a dignified death.

But what would happen if another family member would call on her services again? From her cousin Freddie and his homosexual lover who face death after they contract the AIDS virus to, in an ironic twist, her own husband whose throat is slit by a serial killer, Mallory experiences serious endless self-doubt and a mystery that hits too close to home as she eventually comes face to face with her husband’s killer.

Through it all, Mallory remains funny, gutsy and never without her indefatigable sense of humor, even when trapped in a quasi- amorous encounter with the fiend that killed her husband.

Broaching topics such as whether a person has the right to die with dignity, and whether another has the right to assist such a person as they take their life, The Ice Floe offers an honest and even startling look at a sensitive, divisive topic that rages on. The Ice Floe is a story of life, death, morality, decency, faith and unusual strength interwoven with a peculiar mystery.

So, how do you want the end of your life to be?