By the Light: A Novel of Serial Homicide

by Dick Peterson

By the A Novel of Serial Homicide is a fabric of suspense highlighted with threads of romance. It is a tale of a man and woman drawn into the pursuit of a serial killer that leaves two nude bodies at the foot of the Biloxi Lighthouse. The man is a profiler who returned to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to care for his Alzheimer’s-stricken father. The woman is an Atlanta crime reporter and Edgar-winning author whose curiosity is piqued when she spots a wire report of the double homicide in her hometown. Travis Ford and Shay O'Connor have a past. As they discover from the corpses of couple after couple at lighthouse after lighthouse, so does a murderer that eliminates practitioners of infidelity and by signature comes to be known as Rose.

370 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 10, 2011

About the author

Dick Peterson spent his first 42 years in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In 1992, employment moved him to the Kansas suburbs of KCMO. He now describes himself as a Kansan by residence, a Missourian by retirement, a Louisianan by birth, Southern by the grace of God, and a Tybee Islander at heart.

No longer hiding out in a bank on weekdays, you can often find him hanging at coffeehouses using their eclectic patrons as models for characters in one suspenseful chapter after another. There's also plenty of time for reading, bicycling, golfing, keeping tabs on a lifetime collection of friends through Facebook, enjoying Words with Friends, and hanging out with his wife, Suzie, with whom a few games of Shut the Box is an after meal ritual. They love to travel, especially to visit family and to spend time at The Doozy, the island dwelling they recently acquired two blocks from the beach and Atlantic Ocean on Tybee Island, Georgia, the coastal gateway to Savannah, where history and art and gardens of good and evil can be found.

To see The Doozy, click on Dick's official website link here at goodreads.com. It is available for rent through Tybee Cottages when Dick and Suzie are not there. Dick does some of his writing there. It is a wonderful retreat for writers and readers alike. The lead characters in Dick's current novel in progress, Tit for Tat: A Novel of Retribution, spend part of the book hanging out at The Doozy and its pool, also known as the Gulf of Doozy.

Dick takes pride in bleeding purple and gold for LSU and for being a member of the Who Dat Nation. He also admits to the guilty pleasure of loving Jayhawk basketball.

Reviews

[Dick Peterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote this book. It is my first. The next one is underway. You can get your copy of By the Light at the Kindle Store at Amazon.com. A quick path to get there is: http://tinyurl.com/bythelight . I am hopeful that you will become one of my readers and reviewers. If you like it, please tell a friend.

[Charlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. In this author's first offering he demonstrates a flair for dialogue that engages the reader and brings his characters to life. The novel is part romance and part crime thriller reminiscent of early Mary Higgins Clark. I hope the author will not be offended by an association with Mary Higgins Clark whose blend of romance with crime has always been a favorite of mine. Romance aside, the crime portion of the book is as graphic as a Kay Scarpetta autopsy. I highly recommend this book and look forward to the author's next offering.

[William Vitka · Rating 5 out of 5]

"By The Light" is well worth the purchase. Peterson has a real flair for language, character and suspense. His tale has the chills you want from a serial killer thriller and the warm human touch of romance. You won't be disappointed.