Distemper (Paperback)

Mad Dogs and Journalists...
After a career-making murder case that proved personal bad news, sharp-witted journalist Alex Bernier swears she's going to report stories, not make them. Then a serial killer declares hunting season in her eccentric upstate New York university town—and is only too happy to keep Alex, the reporter covering the case, personally in his twisted loop. To stop him, Alex must face off against an attractive police detective, a ruthless New York Times reporter, and a tech-happy student voyeur. But as she races through a maze of bewildering leads, she doesn't know her rabidly clever subject is out to kill her story—permanently...

"The first thing I saw was her shoes,
laid atop a stack of clothing. There was something plaid under them, but that's all I remember, because the next thing I saw was the girl herself.
"I screamed my head off, before something made me clamp my hand over my mouth. The scene was so obviously fresh. Some instinct told me that she'd been put there in the past few hours—minutes even—and that meant that whoever did it could still be there. A noise shook the trees and a branch snapped. It sent me running, snagging my tights on the undergrowth, and sprawling over a log. As I scrambled back up I could hear something behind me, but I was afraid to look back. Five seconds later I was on my bike, coasting faster and faster, the trees whipping by in a blur. I must have hit a rock, because the next thing I knew I was somersaulting over the handlebars. I landed with a thud, and then I was no use to anybody...."