Joe Erickson Mystery

In this prequel to Rose's Thorn, Detective Joe Erickson discovers a clever and vile serial killer preying on women in Chicago. Only a few cat hairs provide clues to the perpetrator of six mutilation murders. Joe's razor-sharp intuition and unorthodox methods ultimately lead him on a trail fraught with twists, turns, and close calls. But pushing himself day and night begins taking its toll, and his obsession with apprehending the killer will be his undoing.

Chicago detective Joe Erickson returns to the force following medical leave, and right away a high-profile murder falls in his lap. The body of a graduate student, the son of a prominent Jewish attorney, washes up on the shore of Lake Michigan with a swastika cut into his back. The hate-crime investigation leads Joe and his partner to suspect neo-Nazis, and as he digs deeper into the young man's death, he uncovers a conspiracy that nearly gets him killed.

Death hits close to home in One of Ours when Chicago detective Joe Erickson is called to the scene of a fatal shooting. The victim, a police captain Joe knows well, had been working on his own time to solve a cold case before he retired. Determining he was silenced for getting too close to the truth, Joe picks up the trail and finds it teeming with corruption, executions, and a conspiracy involving a powerful city official. Can Joe crack the cold case and solve the murder while avoiding the wrath of the conspirators?

Chicago Detective Joe Erickson arrives at an apartment where a young woman, an up-and-coming model, has been found murdered. Discovered at the scene are dead roses, along with a card reading "Sic semper scortilla," Latin for "thus always to bitches." A week later, another young woman, also a model, is found murdered in her apartment. Dead roses and a card with the same message are found at this scene as well. Who killed these women? And what is the significance of the dead roses and the card? With no clues as to the identity of the perpetrator, Joe and his partner begin an investigation that eventually leads them to disturbing revelations about what motivated the crimes and who was responsible.