The Lady's Slipper by Charles Cutter

Murder in Harbor Springs: Book 6 in the Burr Lafayette series!

Endangered or in Danger? More Than One Life Is at Stake in Newest Thriller from Acclaimed Author Charles Cutter

TRAVERSE CITY, MICHIGAN— For Michigan native Charles Cutter, setting is more than just location: it is character. In his highly-acclaimed Burr Lafayette legal crime series—whose backdrops span from the Straits of Mackinac to the Au Sable River, Sleeping Bear Dunes, and beyond—the Mitten State is a leading lady.

“I try to pick places in Michigan that people know and are interested in,” he said. “The location where a crime occurs is central to the story!”

The Lady's Slipper: Murder in Harbor Springs

In the series’ upcoming sixth installment, The Lady’s Slipper: Murder in Harbor Springs, Cutter is heading north to the untouched beauty of Thorne Swift Nature Preserve, a real-life place protected by the Little Traverse Conservancy (a nonprofit for which Cutter serves on the board). “I thought Harbor Springs would be a nice place for a murder,” he added.

In it, readers follow the brilliant-but-struggling litigator, Burr Lafayette, in his attempt to save Thorne Swift from being developed into million-dollar lakefront homes.

Endangered and In Danger

At a sprawling seventeen acres, the preserve is the largest undeveloped parcel of lakefront property in Harbor Springs, containing countless pristine creeks, swamps, and over one thousand feet of precious shoreline. It’s also the home of the lady slipper, an endangered orchid whose moccasin shape is woven into native Ojibwe legend—and Lafayette certainly isn’t about to see it sold without a fight.

But when Frank Slaughter, the preserve’s caretaker, is murdered, Lafayette suddenly finds himself wading through more than just mud in a legal thriller that’ll have readers racing to the end. In fact, an early endorsement from Leland K. Basset of Basset Entertainment Group highlights the novel’s expert craft and construction: “Be ready to keep reading once you start this page-turner about the brilliant but troubled, and always surprising, Burr Lafayette. Even readers of the series won’t see the twist coming at the end."

As for the secret to a killer thriller? Per Cutter, it all comes down to compelling characters whose realistic attributes, layered personalities, conflicts, and interactions drive the reader to keep turning the page.

Fans of Burr Lafayette won’t have long to wait for more pages to turn; Cutter is planning to return to Mackinac Island in his seventh novel. Stay tuned!

Author, Charles Cutter

The Author

Charles Cutter is the author of the highly acclaimed Burr Lafayette legal thriller series. The Pink Pony, the first book in the series, recently won First Prize in the Global Book Awards. He also recently published a standalone southern thriller, The Hangman’s Blind. Cutter is a cum laude graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and a graduate with highest honors from Michigan State University. Before his writing career, he worked in media and practiced law.

Cutter is active in conservation, having also served as chairman of the board for Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, the largest upland conservation organization in the United States. He lives with his wife, two dogs, and four cats in East Lansing. He has a leaky sailboat in Harbor Springs, and a leakier duck boat on Saginaw Bay.

Previous books in the Burr Lafayette series include The Pink Pony, The Gray Drake, Bear Bones, The Crooked Angel, and Under the Ashes. They are available at Amazon and your local bookstore. Cutter has also written literary fiction, short stories, and screenplays. He is currently at work on the next book in the Burr Lafayette series.

The Book

The Lady’s Slipper: Murder in Harbor Springs

Author Charles Cutter

278 pages, 6” x 9”, B/W

BISACS/Fiction/ Thrillers/Legal/Crime/Nature & the Environment

ISBN: 978-1-965278-93-2, $27.95 (Hardcover)

ISBN: 978-1-965278-94-9, $17.95 (Softcover)

Publication Date: January 20, 2026

Mission Point Press

Copies are available for preorder at Bookshop.org, Amazon, and other online retailers. On its January 20 publication date, it will be available for purchase wherever books are sold. For information or to arrange for signings and events, contact the author at charles@charlescutter.com.

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