Peter Zak Mysteries Series

If the only witness to a murder has amnesia, how do you catch the killer? Instead of matching fingerprints or DNA, forensic psychologist Dr. Peter Zak solves cases by studying psychological clues and phenomena. Peter, whose specialty is the brain and behavior, consults for the Boston public defenders office, analyzing the thought processes and personalities of witnesses and defendants. Sylvia Jackson was shot in the head and left for dead, her boyfriend murdered. Waking from a coma after six weeks, she remembers nothing-until three months later, when she begins to recall details of the crime and the killer. Finally, Syl accuses her ex-husband, remembering what seems like incontrovertible evidence of his guilt. But Stuart Jackson seems destroyed by his ex's ordeal; could he really be guilty of this vicious crime? Peter quit consulting on trials a year ago when his wife was brutally murdered by a killer angered by Peter's suggestion of an insanity defense. But when his old colleagues call for help with this bizarre case, he's hooked. It's Peter's job to determine how reliable Syl's memory really is, and to use those memories to uncover the truth. Amnesia is guaranteed to be the start of an intriguing and original crime series.

Amnesia, G.H. Ephron's acclaimed debut, introduced forensic neuropsychologist and expert defense witness Dr. Peter Zak. Returning in Addiction, Peter is back in the thick of things at the Pearce Psychiatric Center, coping with patients as well as everyday average administrative nightmares at the hospital, like budgetary concerns, construction, and colleagues' drug trials. And then the worst nightmare of all-the murder of a colleague. Such an event, if it weren't devastating enough, rekindles Peter's memories of the murder of his wife, which left Peter emotionally shattered and isolated; he's only recently begun to emerge. But he can't retreat this time; he must use his expertise to help reconstruct this baffling and intensely personal killing. Peter discovers his friend and former lover, Pearce psychiatrist Channing Temple, dead from a gunshot wound on hospital grounds. Her 16-year-old daughter Olivia is standing over the body, holding a gun. Did Olivia, who has been abusing Ritalin and other drugs, kill her mother? Peter thinks not, but she is quickly arraigned for murder, and he has only two weeks to find the killer before Olivia is sent to prison. In this tense and compelling second installment in a highly lauded series, the talented writing team known as G.H. Ephron tackles the dangers and misconceptions surrounding addiction...and the chaos of murder.

From the acclaimed author of Amnesia and Addiction comes the story of a paranoid man accused of killing his wife-is he ill, or is he a great actor trying to get away with murder? Forensic neuropsychologist at Boston's prestigious Pearce Psychiatric Center and expert defense witness Peter Zak regularly testifies at murder trials on issues like a defendant's conception of right and wrong or the reliability of a witness's memory. This time a lawyer calls Peter to the scene of a crime-Nick Babikian has just found his wife brutally stabbed and floating in their backyard pool. The lawyer wants Peter to assess Nick's state of mind. A brilliant but paranoid man who's made millions inventing and marketing his own computer role-playing game, he was working in the house while his wife was stabbed, and he's certain to be accused of wielding the knife. Nick claims his innocence, but he has no proof, though certainly some of what he claims seems true. For example, there are signs his wife was having an affair. And oddly, the longer they work together, the more Peter relates to Nick's feelings. For Peter himself becomes more and more convinced that his own wife's killer, a man who's supposed to be serving life in prison, is somehow tormenting him at home and at work. It's up to Peter to separate fact from fiction in this chilling entry in a masterful series.

G. H. Ephron's gripping crime novels deal with fascinating psychological symptoms at work in the minds of murderers and their targets. In Obsessed, forensic neuropsychologist and expert defense witness Peter Zak is trying to help a coworker, Dr. Emily Ryan, who is being tormented by a stalker. She doesn't have any idea who it could be, and his acts have been escalating, to the point where he's breaking into her car and leaving sick messages. Peter is increasingly worried about where the violence will end. And there is no lack of suspects, as the naive Emily seems to attract admirers blindly; from her colleagues at the Neuropsychiatric Unit where she is studying the brain and its disorders to the other doctors at the Pearce Psychiatric Institute, even Peter notices himself responding to her blond good looks and puppy dog eyes. Or, as suggested by Peter's friend P.I. Annie Squires, is Emily more aware of her appeal than she lets on? When one of the potential suspects turns up dead, what started as a nuisance is suddenly much more complicated, and dangerous. Once again, G. H. Ephron delivers a complex, absorbing case that turns upon Peter's expert knowledge of human nature.

When a bomb detonates outside a Harvard law school building, killing several including a law student who was counseling Jackie Kelvinski, a woman trying to get out of an abusive marriage, Jackie is afraid that the bomb was set off by her unstable husband. Annie Squires, an investigator helping her out, tries to convince her that's unlikely, but Jackie's not listening. And before the Cambridge police get very far in their investigation to determine who could have committed such a crime, a second deadly bomb explodes, this time at a Cambridge courthouse. The bomb narrowly misses forensic neuropsychologist Dr. Peter Zak, late for a meeting inside. Peter, suddenly closer to the action that he'd like to be, agrees to help the police by profiling the bomber from some anti-government fliers found at the crime scene. But were they really written by the perpetrator? Or is the bomber's motive more personal, perhaps directed at Jackie, or Peter, or another target? Delving deeper into the mind of the criminal, Peter must work quickly before more lives are lost, including possibly his own. Guilt, G. H. Ephron's thrilling psychological suspense novel, is a fascinating and surprising novel about motive and murder, survivor's guilt and criminal culpability--and trying to stay one step ahead of a killer.