I am a forensic scientist with the medical examiner’s office in Cleveland, Ohio. I should probably start out with what I’m not: I’m not a cop. I don’t interrogate suspects or chase them with guns. I am not a doctor. I don’t do autopsies or decide cause of death. I am not a lawyer. I don’t obtain arrest warrants or spend any more time at the courthouse than I absolutely have to. I am the person who sits in front of a computer for hours looking at the black lines of fingerprint patterns, climbs into an attic in August to retrieve the murder weapon, and plucks hair from the head of a prisoner who just beat his brother-in-law to death.
On any given day I might examine a victim’s clothing, comparing the bullet holes in the shirt to the bullet holes in his body, cut a stained sample of it for DNA testing and then do the Griess procedure on its surface to see how far away the killer was when he pulled the trigger. I might collect swabs from the victim’s hands to test for gunshot residue, even though that won’t prove that he did or did not fire a gun. I might go out to a bloodied living room to look at the pattern of red drops and determine a sequence of events. I might spend the whole day sitting around the courthouse waiting to testify, only to have the defendant take a plea as soon as he sees the jury’s stern faces. I might clean out the supply closet. I might reorganize thirty-year-old blood samples stored in the deep freeze…which smells really bad.
So there is no such thing as a typical day. And certainly, in Close to the Bone, this day turns into the most un-typical of them all. For here, in this battered, seventy year old building that is my second home, I came across the still-warm corpse of my co-worker–beaten to death in the deskman’s office with his blood scattered across the worn linoleum, the intake forms, the dog-eared list of funeral homes. I never really liked him, but that won’t stop me from searching through this dark, empty edifice full of the dead for his killer.
Now, hours later, my workspace is crawling with cops, who don’t even include my cousin the homicide detective because he is out of town on—very un-typical for Frank—a vacation. Instead I have only an unfamiliar but somehow interesting sergeant and my young BFF Don, our DNA analyst. When I stumble on another body it becomes clear that the killer is stalking medical examiner office employees and I don’t know why. If I don’t figure this out and soon, myself or Don—for whom I have long harbored very un-typical, and un-maternal, feelings—will be the next victim.
You can read more about Theresa in Close to the Bone, the seventh book in the “Theresa Maclean” mystery series, published by Severn House. The first book in the series is Takeover.
GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment by 6 p.m. eastern on October 16 for the chance to win a copy of CLOSE TO THE BONE. The giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.
About the author
Lisa Black spent the five happiest years of her life in a morgue. As a forensic scientist in the Cleveland coroner’s 
office she analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. Now she’s a certified latent print examiner and CSI for the Cape Coral Police Department in Florida. Her books have been translated into six languages and one reached the NYT mass market bestseller’s list.
Thanks for a chance to win! Sounds very interesting.
Looks like a great series; thank you for the chance 🙂
Sounds like an excellent book. Thanks for the opportunity to win!
Looks good to me, I am going to hunt for the first in the series – Takeover – found it in my library!! 🙂
This book sounds great, my daughter is thinking of doing the as a career .
I wish I was young again, I would do it also. Would love to read this
I want to read this one. Lots of blood doesn’t turn me on, bot Theresa sounds real and very interesting. Choose me! Choose me!
I heard Lisa speak at Bouchercon 2012, and if her book is half as awesome as she is, I’d love to read it.
I have to have this book. I am retired but worked for pathologists for fifty years and at one time did assist on forensic autopsies.
I’ve followed Theresa from the first book to the most current. It’s a very enjoyable read.
I love Lisa Blacks’s work—thanks for the opportunity to win a copy of this book!
Living in northeast Ohio of course I must read this book. Thanks for a great review.
So many people say their child or grandchild wants to go into forensics. I wish them all the best–I love the field–but competition is pretty fierce. They might want to have a Plan B.
Sounds like another good book in a great series.
I will have have to share this with a co-worker. Her daughter wants to go into forensics. This is on my need to read list. Thanks!
Sounds fantastic!! Thanks!! We love this genre!!
Looking forward to this
This sounds very interesting!
I like the way she makes her job sound mundane—but it really isn’t. I’d love to read this book.
suefarrell.farrell@gmail.com
Sounds like the makings of good read.
This sounds good! I’ve got it on my book list. Thanks for the introduction to a new author!
This sounds like such a cool book, I’d love to have it. Thanks for the chance to win a copy.
Thank you for the chance to win this book! It sounds really good!
I love forensics and would love to win this book. Thanks for the chance.
Sounds like a great read.
Wow, now I’ve got to find the other six books. 🙂 Should be a pleasure treasure adventure.
This is one book that I would really find fascinating as I have read other forensics themed books and truly loved them all. I have only read one other book by this author but I certainly would like to win this one and get back to this series once again. So many great books and only 24 hours in a day.
Thank you.
Cynthia
These books are great – get a different perspective of solving mysteries.
I’ve enjoyed both both the setting-Cleveland-and your heroine’s choice of career in your previous books as well as the top-notch mystery. Looking forward to reading your latest
contest is closed.