The Dossier:

Name – Dr. Evan Wilding
Occupation – Professor; Forensic Semiotician
Employer – University of Chicago. The Chicago Police Department. Three-letter government agencies whose initials never appear on Evan’s CV.

The Case: Dark of Night released November 15, 2022

It’s a blustery March morning. The man sitting across from my desk at the University of Chicago claims to be an archaeologist. He’s here about a mutual friend of ours, historian Elizabeth Lawrence. They had agreed to meet, but she didn’t show. She isn’t answering her phone, and no one has seen her at work. This meeting had been planned months in advance, and now Elizabeth is nowhere to be found.

“She told me if I had a problem, I should come to you,” the man says, his eyes revealing nothing. “And now I have a problem.”

But Ronen Avraham—at least, that’s the name he offered—is not an archaeologist: I know a spy when I see one. The scrutiny he gave my office, missing nothing. His military bearing. Plus, he’s packing a gun. Avraham is with the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad, or I’ll eat that rare edition of The Divine Comedy sitting on my desk.

What does Mossad want with an aging historian and papyrologist?

Avraham reads my business card and asks the usual question: What, exactly, is a forensic semiotician? I give him the short answer: Certain killers—the wiliest, the darkest, the most complex—carry a narrative in their head to explain their crimes. When they create elaborate crime scenes to share their twisted story with the world, someone calls me. My specialty—interpreting these signs and symbols—leads me to consult on some of the world’s grisliest cases.

Avraham thanks me for my time and leaves. A few hours later, Elizabeth is found in her car, dead from the bite of an Egyptian cobra. She’s left behind a questionable suicide note and a few cryptic alphanumeric codes.

And I know I’m dealing with one of those kinds of killers.

My life might sound dark. But—murderers aside—I love my work as a professor at the University of Chicago. I love my office with its floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, its Berber rugs, the library table that wouldn’t look out of place in the Library of Congress. I love my students and my six-foot-tall, axe-wielding post-doc, Diana. For company, I have my goshawk, Ginny, and a walking ottoman known as Perro. Perro is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, and while I’ll never admit it, the little furball has wormed his way into my heart.

And then there’s Detective Adrianne Bisset. Addie is my best friend. She is also the love of my life, although she doesn’t know it. One of these days, I’ll bare my heart to her. I’ve let the fact of my dwarfism and Addie’s penchant for tall men stand in the way. But what good is life if we don’t express our love? If we don’t go after what we want?

But for now, it’s back to work. I stand in my office as moonlight bathes the room in silver. Outside, the wind kicks up. A killer stalks the night. I turn my mind to stolen papyri, coded messages, and the death of my friend. A cobra as a murder weapon—that’s a first, even for me.

I study the cryptic alphanumeric codes left near Elizabeth’s body and begin the complex task of unraveling them. I will find whoever took her life.

Dark of Night, A Dr. Evan Wilding Mystery #2
Genre: Traditional
Release: November 2022
Purchase Link

A recent murder is ancient history in a breathtaking novel about a sacred lost treasure and poisonous retribution by the Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of At First Light.

What an exotic way to die in Chicago.

When esteemed historian Elizabeth Lawrence is found in her car, killed by a cobra’s bite, only a brilliant professor of semiotics, Dr. Evan Wilding, can see the signs around her strange death. As he helps homicide detective Addie Bisset decipher the scene, the puzzles left behind offer Evan chilling passage into the mind of a killer.

Evan’s investigation merges with that of an Israeli agent, who claims Elizabeth was close to acquiring an invaluable artifact. She was also drawing the attention of unsavory treasure hunters, forgers, and thieves. Was someone desperate to expose the truth of Elizabeth’s astonishing discovery?

The deeper Evan and Addie delve into the case, the darker it gets. A murderer’s archaic crimes are just the beginning. In a race where there can be only one winner, the final victim might be Evan.

About the author
Barbara Nickless is the Wall Street Journal and Amazon Charts bestselling author of the multi-award-winning Sydney Parnell crime novels. Her new series features forensic semiotician Dr. Evan Wilding—a man whose gift for interpreting the words and symbols left behind by killers has led him to consult on some of the world’s grisliest cases. “Dr. Evan Wilding is absolutely my new favorite fictional human.” (Danielle Girard, USA Today & Amazon #1 Bestselling Author of The Ex.) Barbara lives in Colorado at the foot of the Rocky Mountains where she loves to hike, cave, snowshoe, and drink single malt Scotch. Connect with her at barbaranickless.com.

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