A serial killer brings terror into the community as he strikes repeatedly and seemingly at random. At the scene of each crime, he leaves behind a coded message that is designed to taunt the police officer who ended a killing spree ten years earlier, with the killer still having unfinished business. Can he be stopped this time before he completes his grisly sequence?
Also by Steve Wilson
Who Wants to Live Forever?
The Element of Death
Steve Wilson
STEVE WILSON says: I’m a late-starter as far as writing goes, with my first fantasy novel started in 2000, although it did stem from an idea that I’d been mulling over for some ten years. That novel eventually became a trilogy, but my writing was sporadic during the next few years.
In 2004, I attained a Post Graduate Certificate in Creative Writing, and not long afterwards, I joined a local writing group, where I found being amongst like-minded peers of great benefit. In 2011 — after writing predominantly short stories for several years — I registered for the National Novel Writing Month, NaNoWriMo, with the aim of writing a 50,000 word novel in thirty days, and the end result of that was my first published novel, Who Wants To Live Forever?.
I took part in NaNoWriMo again in 2012, writing a sword-and-sorcery fantasy novel set on a world with two suns, but in 2013 I went back to crime writing, which is how The Element of Death came into being. I have always enjoyed trying to solve puzzles, either in books or on screen, and I wanted to pay my own homage to writers such as Conan Doyle in this novel by devising the various coded messages that are left behind at the crime scenes.
With acknowledgements to the great crime fiction writers, especially Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie and Dan Brown, for providing the inspiration for this novel
This book is dedicated to my wife and children, who have always encouraged me in my writing, and to my friends and colleagues at Fylde Brighter Writers, whose support has been invaluable. I am also indebted to Victoria, Helen and Sue for their editorial assistance and advice, both of which have, in my opinion, helped make this a better novel.
Contents
Three — ’Tis the Season to be Sorry
Six — Little People and Bigger Problems
Seven — A Picture From Germany
Eleven — A Weekend in Dortmund
November 1st
Mandy opens her front door when she returns home and screams as somebody pushes their way in after her. Then she laughs. It is one of her friends, playing a Halloween prank. Again.
“Very