Today's book deals with another of the story lines that appear throughout the first year -- the search for a serial killer. COMMON GROUNDS and WHITE ROSES actually deal with the White Rose Killer and his victims, while other books such as DETOURS and THE SECOND TIME AROUND mention the serial killer and the concern various characters have for possible new targets.

The genesis of this story came from an actual event when I was working at a local newspaper. A high school girl was strangled by her boyfriend, and he dumped her body in the park. They caught him, and the aunt who helped him move the body. But I got to thinking ... what if he got away with it, and what if the killing ate at his mind and soul for years, until when he was grown up, he thought the girl he murdered had come back, so they could be together? Thus was born the White Rose Killer.