Disturbing Scenes
A polite young woman is murdered in her house in Pittsburgh, PA.
Two days later another murder victim, an angelic child, is found dead
in nearby West Park. Rookie detective, Colleen Greer, has a gut
feeling the two murders might be linked.
As she pursues the case, Greer
keeps thinking she’s seeing someone out of the corner of her eye. Llike
the title in Kathleen George’s latest thriller, AFTERIMAGE, suggests,
these flashes are visual glimpses that linger. But for Greer, they
provoke unsettling memories. “Greer’s mind is putting together a
puzzle in a whole new way,” says George.
Greer's also messing with her
mixed up heart. A spirited almost 40 year-old, the rookie has a crush
on her mentor and boss, Richard Christie, Head of Homicide, which is
ramping up tension at work and in her personal life. No question,
Christie is magnetic and handsome. But he's also married.
George didn’t always write
thrillers. She started off writing short stories then fell into
theater, eventually getting her Ph.D and teaching drama. She's been a
professor in the theater arts department at the University of
Pittsburgh, PA, and has directed numerous plays. But her itch to write
novels persisted.
One summer, she began working
on her first mystery. “It grabbed me,” she says. “There’s a strong
link between theater and mysteries and a reason why so many mystery
writers have a theater background. Mystery depends on scenes, lies, and
secrets, which the stage is famous for. Plays work on dramatic irony
and suspense. So do thrillers.”
AFTERIMAGE was fun to write,” says George. “I like to go deep into character and have scenes not necessarily full of guns and knives, but motivations.” That’s not to say she doesn’t do her research when it comes to weapons and killing. When she needs the scoop on guns and crime, she goes to the source. Says George, “I call the police all the time.”
Kathleen George has published three novels and a collection of short stories. George's short fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and listed among the Distinguished in Best American Short Stories. She has directed numerous theater productions, many of which have been listed among the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Ten Best of the Year. She has also published several scholarly books on theater. AFTERIMAGE is the third in a series of novels featuring detective Richard Christie. Read an excerpt of AFTERIMAGE here.
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