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 White Rose Killer has a pattern -- he finds a young woman of a certain physical type and decides she is his "true love." He sends her notes, ordering her to stay pure, to stay true and loyal to him. He leaves her white roses. He frightens her. He stalks her and spies on her. And when she reacts in fear or when others try to defend her, he reacts with violence, beating up the defenders and ultimately kidnapping and killing her. After all, she isn't true to him. Then he finds another "true love," and justifies killing the previous girl, because she was distracting him, interfering in his search for the one who will love him for always. Just like she promised .... or so he believes.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.
