Daily Dose

Great News Town, a mystery/thriller about a fictional Illinois town that is terrorized by a serial killer, opens on June 26, 1984. So on June 26, 2012, a free, serialized version of the book was launched on this Web site. Weekly installments are posted on Thursdays. Check back often.

Week Three

As we close the third week of the Serial Killer Serial, we've met the staff of the Jordan Daily News and watched them cover a huge refinery fire. We've also met a pair of piano teacher sisters who appear to have been intentionally killed in a house fire. Now it's the Fourth of July and we know the tractor plant manager, Carl Anderson, is celebrating the holiday in a passionate affair with a young employee, Tracy. But what about her husband Johnny? Won't he be suspicious? And how about the Jordan Daily News columnist Duke Dukakis? Has his wife really left him?

We only have a few more days of daily installments. After Thursday's installment, new chapters will be posted weekly on Thursdays. Also on Thursday, the first five chapters will be deleted from the archive so if you haven't read them yet, be sure to catch up before Thursday!

Week Two: What's New?

That's right, we just closed the second week with the Serial Killer Serial. The refinery fire is just about under control and you're about to find out what happened to those poor piano teaching sisters (Remember them?) We'll continue daily updates for another week, until Thursday, July 19, when weekly installments begin. If you haven't read the opening chapters, please do so before July 19, when the first five chapters will be purged from the archive.  BTW, we have readers from all over the world including Canada, Germany, Korea and Russia.Welcome to the Great News Town!

One Week Recap

  Congratulations, you've been following the Serial Killer Serial for one week. So far, you've met most of the staff of the Jordan Daily News and seen them in action. Josie Braun, the petite city editor (and Kevin her wise-cracking 7-year-old son); Hoss, the hefty, chain-smoking, copy desk chief; Nick, the handsome, baseball-playing reporter; Maggie, the older veteran reporter who knows everyone in town; Juan, the savvy summer intern; Page, the quiet giant photographer; Duke, the veteran columnist who's hooked on booze (and his frustrated wife Sharon.) 

But wait! What about Old Ben in the rocking chair and Natalie in the dusty car? Carl the plant manager and Tracy his sexy employee? And those cops, Scotty and Daniel? Or that couple in the parked car -- Richard Angelo and Kathy Woods -- and the piano teacher sisters, Hannah and Zoe Otis?What do they have to do with this story? Keep reading. You'll see.


A special summer

There's something special about this summer. The Fourth of July comes in the middle of the week. And a little over a week later, is Friday the 13th. Those are two key dates in in Great News Town. Those are two of the dates when a serial killer struck. That's the way the dates fell in 2001 when I wrote the book. That's the way the dates fell in 1984 when the story happens. And that's the way the dates fall this year. Kinda gives you the creeps.