The forecast: Record cold. The crimes: Colder still.

Case #1:Hardworking veterinary technician Jayvon Fletcher was honest, friendly, and without an enemy in the world. But two Christmas Eves ago, while covering the night shift, he vanished, leaving behind only a broken window and smears of blood on the clinic's back steps. Neither police nor the private detectives hired by Jayvon's grandmother could find him. Now Detective Lieutenant Rick Peller is asked to take another look at the case, although he doubts he can shed light on the young man's fate.

Case #2: Detective Sergeant Corina Montufar puzzles over a fire in an exclusive area. The details are familiar—two other houses burned the previous year in exactly the same way. But police had nabbed the arsonist. He was already in prison when this new crime occurred. Is this a copycat crime, or is the real culprit still at large and this the next in a series of attacks?

Case #3: It's only mid-January, and already Detective Sergeant Eric Dumas is staring at Howard County's first murder victim of the year. Michio Tamai kept an address book overflowing with criminal cohorts. But even his friends were his victims. Not one of them is sorry he's dead. Any might be his murderer.

While temperatures plummet, cold cases collide with new crimes, and somewhere a killer with blood as icy as the waters of the bay watches and waits.

A thrilling crime drama, Ice on the Bay is the third of Dale E. Lehman's Howard County Mysteries. For more drama and thrills, check out the rest of the series: The Fibonacci Murders (Howard County Mystery #1) and True Death (Howard County Mystery #2).

Kathleen Lehman

Books