An Eddy Bratenahl Novel Series

Police psychologist Edwardo Bratenahl is a young widower, still mourning the tragic loss of his wife. Bratenahl, an academic and native of the insular Cleveland neighborhood of Little Italy, is asked to assist with the homicide investigation of world-class geneticist Dr. Simon Pederson, who was viciously slain during Sunday mass. Bratenahl is partnered with Mary Kate Calderon, veteran homicide detective. The two soon discover a related murder, which Calderon confesses looks eerily like a scenario she witnessed as a child in Nicaragua, with all the hallmarks of a Sandinista interrogator dubbed Diablo Rojo. Bratenahl brushes this off as coincidence, but the psychologist soon discovers just how perilous the world around him is, as he collides with the Red Devil, Simon Pederson’s legacy of destruction, and the weight of family history in this twisty, dark police procedural.

Several months have passed since Edwardo Bratenahl’s run in with the Red Devils in the woods outside of Cleveland. The police psychologist’s injuries have mostly healed and things are quiet again in Little Italy. But, trouble is on the horizon as Edwardo is contacted by the elderly principal of his old grade school, leading to a revelation involving glass sculptor Amanda Richard’s disappearance and her nephew’s seeming abandonment. After a grisly discovery at the missing woman’s studio, Edwardo races against time and the authorities to unravel the mystery behind her flight. The psychologist quickly discerns that he never really knew Amanda at all and that no matter how far anyone may try to escape the shadows of their youth, darkness inevitably catches up.