My name is Harriet Foster. I’m a detective with the Chicago Police Department. Homicide. I’ve got fifteen years on the job, worked my way up from street patrol to where I am now. I’d like to say mine was a fun job, but it isn’t usually. I’m called in when someone’s been taken. I see the worst there is out there, the bad parts, the senseless tragedies, the insanity of wonton violence. I hunt monsters. I stand in the gap. I’m a human shield with a badge.

Not sure what else there is to tell, what more you need to know. I’m in a new district. That means a new team, a new partner. My new partner is Det. Vera Li. Smart, insightful, hard-driving. Li has plans on becoming police superintendent one day. I have no doubt she’ll make it. Right now, we’re the only two women on the team, unless you count our boss, Sgt. Sharon Griffin. Two words about her. Tough. Unswayable. Lonergan, Bigelow, Kelley and Symansky round out the core of us. All guys. All good, solid investigators, even Lonergan, I suppose. He prides himself on being an old-school cop. We’re not the best of friends, but I don’t have to take him home, I only have to work with him. Got enough?

Me: You’re kidding, right? You haven’t told me practically anything about yourself! Still! And I’ve been writing about you for almost a year. I swear, Harriet, you make me want to pull my hair out. Why did you become a cop? What’s going on with you and your ex-husband? Why do you mark your days by dropping one marble into a glass vase? Give me something, for crying out loud!! I’m dying over here!

Harriet: Do you always get this excited about other people’s business?

Me: YES! I’m a writer! Book people’s business is literally MY business!!

Harriet: Hmm. You mention my ex-husband, RJ. He’s also a detective. Remarried now with a new family.

Me: Go on!

Harriet: Ask him.

Me: Gah!!!! Let’s talk about your first case at your new spot, then. Talk about hitting the ground running, huh? In Hide, you’re just back from leave and, bam, you get stuck with a serial killer case right from the jump? Whaaaat? I mean, this monster is out there hunting red-heads and hiding their bodies. It’s a classic game of cat-and-mouse. I’m still not sure whether you were the cat or the mouse, quite frankly. It got dicey, though, right? When I wrote that serial killer, I said to myself, man, I don’t know how Harriet’s going to deal with this on top of all that other stuff she’s got going on.

Harriet: And yet you still wrote it.

Me: Well, yeah. Let’s talk backstory. Can we talk about your late son, Reg?

Harriet: No.

Me: Then can we talk about the marbles and the paper clips and the thumb tacks and all the little bits of things you collect in your pockets when you’re up against it? That intrigues me. Not sure why you do it. What purpose it serves.

Harriet: Look, I do my job. I show up, I follow leads. I catch bad guys. I go home. I sleep when I can, eat when there’s time. I try not to die out on the streets. That’s all.

Me: There’s tons more, and you ding-dangity know it. There’s so much to unpack with you.

Harriet: I’ll make you a deal. You unpack your feelings, then I’ll unpack mine. … Whenever you’re ready.

(Sound of crickets).

Harriet: Right. Writers. Always dishing it out, but none of you can take it.

Me: Harriet Louise Foster. Forty-three. Cop. That it, then?

Harriet: Works for me.

Me: Yeah, well, that makes one of us.

Hide, A Detective Harriet Foster Mystery #1
Genre: Police Procedural
Release: January 2023
Format: Print, Digital, and Audio
Purchase Link

From acclaimed author Tracy Clark comes a page-turning mystery featuring hard-boiled Chicago detective Harriet Foster, who’s on the hunt for a serial killer with a deadly affinity for redheads.

When a young red-haired woman is found brutally murdered in downtown Chicago, one detail stands out: the red lipstick encircling her wrists and ankles.

Detective Harriet Foster is on the case, even though she’s still grieving the sudden death of her partner. As a Black woman in a male-dominated department, Foster anticipates a rocky road ahead acclimating to a new team—and building trust with her new partner isn’t coming easily.

After another victim turns up with the same lipstick markings, Foster suspects she’s looking for a serial killer. Through a tip from a psychiatrist, Foster learns about Bodie Morgan: a troubled man with a twisted past and a penchant for pretty young redheads with the bluest eyes. As Foster wades into Morgan’s sinister history, the killer continues their gruesome assault on Chicago’s streets.

In her desperate race to catch the murderer before they strike again, Foster will have to confront the darkest of secrets—including her own.

About the author
Tracy Clark, a native Chicagoan, is the author of the Cass Raines Chicago Mystery series, featuring ex-cop turned PI Cassandra Raines. A multi-nominated Anthony, Lefty, Edgar, Macavity, and Shamus Award finalist, Tracy is also the 2020 and 2022 winner of the G.P. Putnam’s Sons Sue Grafton Memorial Award and the 2022 Sara Paretsky Award, which honors crime writers from the Midwest. Tracy was also nominated for the 2022 Edgar for Best Short Story for “Lucky Thirteen,” which was included in the crime fiction anthology “Midnight Hour.” She is a proud member of Crime Writers of Color, Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime and serves on the boards of Bouchercon National and the Midwest Mystery Conference. Hide, her new, police procedural, featuring Det. Harriet Foster of the Chicago Police Department, released in January 2023. The second entry in that series, Fall, releases in 2024. Tracy loves old black-and-white movies, a good nap, and a really spicy ginger snap served with ice-cold milk. When she’s not writing, she’s thinking about writing and admits to finding characters in the most unusual places.

All comments are welcomed.