The Hidden Assassins

by: Robert Wilson

The Previous 7 Arts BloodScenes from the BlanketBlue is for NightmaresShooting GalleryThe Book of Lost ThingsBody TraceEvery Secret Crime

Body Trace

Body Trace, by D. H. Dublin focuses in a new member of the Crime Scene Unit at the Police Headquarters in Philadelphia. As such, the reader gets to view the murder from an entirely different angle other than detective, cop, ambulance chaser, media vulture or even private citizen. Mr. Dublin provides a slightly new twist on a very well-worn theme, and does it with flair and panache. His protagonist, Madison Cross, is both feisty and unrelenting in her search for truth.

Madison Cross alights from a plane in the heat and humidity of a Philadelphia summer to start a new job with the Crime Scene Unit – which her uncle, Lieutenant Dave Cross, happens to head, plus supplying her with the job. It's not what she originally planned, but she's immediately immersed in the deaths of two sorority sisters, apparently from an overdose of drugs.

Madison is intrigued by the deaths, and feels something isn't quite right. She suspects it's murder. Inadvertently, she mentions her doubts to another sorority sister, and her blunder appears in the newspapers – causing no little uproar, since the mayor and other top-level officials wanted the case dispatched ASAP without any fanfare. But then all the facts continue to point to a simple overdose. In spite of her uncle's closing the case, Madison continues to dig for more clues.

Several of her new cohorts assist her, two males included and both interested in more than the case. Madison's father, a cop since deceased, was known by a number of people in the unit as well as her uncle. She has evidently inherited his tenacity. We get to learn some details of the crime lab business as various clues are processed and new evidence comes to light. Madison eventually tracks down the real killer, and all hell breaks loose, even though she supposedly has backup!

D. H. Dublin writes a fascinating novel, well worth your time and more suited to a hardback cover than the paper one in which it appears. At this writing, Mr. Dublin is working on his second in the series. We wish him every success!

Alan Paul Curtis

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