While Evan and Rhinehart agree on some of the translation of the runes, Rhinehart wants to blame the murder on Nazism and racism and Wilding believes there have been other ritual killings, and believes the murder is the work of a brilliant serial killer. But, her chauvinistic boss, Lieutenant Criver, wants to bring in his own expert, Ralph Rhinehart, an expert runologist who appears on television and has a podcast. While Wilding is Addie’s friend, he’s also a tenured professor at the University of Chicago, and a paid consultant for the police department. And, Evan thinks the runes are part of a poem written by someone who connects themselves with the Vikings.

In this case, the stakes left behind appear to contain runes. He studies signs left by a killer, the rituals a killer performs or the writing left at a scene. Their latest victim was found staked to the ground with a slashed throat, a tightened noose around his neck, and a blow to his head. He’s the first one Detective Adrianne “Addie” Bisset calls when she has a ritualistic murder.ĭetective Bisset and her partner, Detective Patrick McBrody, certainly have a weird case. He takes on weird cases for the Chicago Police Department.

Now, one of Barbara Nickless’ protagonists in At First Light, Dr. I didn’t read the later books in the series as they drifted into speculative fiction. Robert “Mongo” Fredrickson who had dwarfism. In the late ’70s and early ’80s, I read George C.

Barbara nickless at first light