He wanted his bag of marbles. Around him, in the den of his own home, lie the bodies of his parents, two guests and a cat, all brutally murdered. And Olead Baker wants his bag of marbles. — To most of the police force, Olead seems the most obvious suspect. At twenty-six, he has spent much of his life institutionalized for schizophrenia. He has also, in the past, displayed a violent fear of cats...

Deb Ralston, though, is not like most of the other police detectives. She's been a cop for fifteen years, but, as she explains to Olead, she's "been a mother a lot longer than that." Deb becomes convinced--despite the evidence mounting against him--that Olead is innocent.

In a race against time--and the death sentence--Deb must reconcile the evidence that proves that Olead did indeed fire a gun that fatal evening with her certainty that Olead could not have committed such an inhuman act. If Olead did not commit those murders, then somebody else did. But who? And why?

With a detective's skill and a mother's intuition and tenderness, Deb calls on all her resources to find the real murderer in this brilliant and involving introduction to one of the most appealing police detectives to appear in a long time.

Book details

• Format Hardcover
• Pages184 pages
• LanguageEnglish
• ISBN100704325918
• ISBN139780704325913