The Death of Anyone

Hello and welcome to my blog.  My guest today is D.J. Swykert.  I asked him if he'd tell us about his book The Death of Anyone from Melange Books. Melange is a great publisher.  If you remember my Christmas novel The Best Selling Toy of the Season is from Melange.  D. J. , thanks so much for telling us about the book.  It sounds wonderful. Readers, he gave me a copy of the book so I could review it, so watch for the review.  Okay, David, tell us about The Death of Anyone.

The underlying theme in my new mystery, The Death of Anyone from Melange Books, poses the Machiavellian question: Does the end justify the means? Bonnie Benham, the lead detective in my story, has her own answer. But the legality of this question will be answered in a real life courtroom in the California trial of a serial killer called The Grim Sleeper.

 

Lonnie David Franklin, the Grim Sleeper, was caught because his son’s DNA was the closest match to DNA collected at the crime scenes in the database. Investigating Franklin’s son led them to investigate Lonnie Franklin. But there was no direct DNA evidence that linked Lonnie to the crime scene until they obtained a sample from him after his arrest. Lonnie Franklin will be the first person in the U.S. to ever stand trial based on this type of evidence, and its admissibility issues in court will be thoroughly tested by defense attorneys.

 

Only two states at this time, California and Colorado, have a written policy concerning the use of Familial DNA in an investigation. The admissibility of Familial DNA has never been tested in court. The California trial of Lonnie David Franklin will become a landmark case for the future use of Familial DNA Searches by law enforcement agencies nationwide.

 

I first heard of the technique while working as a 911 operator in 2006. It came up in a conversation with officers. I thought at the time it would make an interesting premise for a book. I began writing the mystery some three years later after leaving the department. I had just finished editing a first draft of The Death of Anyone in the summer 2010 when news of The Grim Sleeper’s capture in Los Angeles was released. I read with interest all the information pouring out of L.A. regarding the investigation and the problems confronting prosecutors. All of which are explored in The Death of Anyone.

 

Detroit homicide Detective Bonnie Benham has been transferred from narcotics for using more than arresting and is working the case of the killer of adolescent girls. CSI collects DNA evidence from the scene of the latest victim, which has not been detected on the other victims. But no suspect turns up in the FBI database. Due to the notoriety of the crimes a task force is put together with Bonnie as the lead detective, and she implores the D.A. to authorize an as yet unapproved type of a DNA Search in an effort to identify the killer. Homicide Detective Neil Jensen, with his own history of drug and alcohol problems, understands Bonnie’s frailty and the two detectives become inseparable as they track this killer of children.

Bio:

Former 911 operator writing fiction. Published in: The Tampa Review, Monarch Review, Sand Canyon Review, Zodiac Review, Scissors and Spackle, Spittoon, Barbaric Yawp and BULL. Children of the Enemy, a novel from Cambridge Books. Alpha Wolves, a novel by Noble Publishing. The Death of Anyone coming from Melange Books in February. You can find him on the blogspot: www.magicmasterminds.com. He is a wolf expert.

http://www.facebook.com/david.swykert?ref=ts&fref=ts

http://www.omnimysterynews.com/2013/01/please-welcome-novelist-dj-swykert-1301100800.html#.UO7KSKwsE1I

 

 

Buy link; http://melange-books.com/authors/djswykert/deathofanyone.html