The Senator Dies at Dawn

By Tim Parise

When a United States Senator is shot during his morning run in Rock Creek Park, Washington's Metropolitan Police Department immediately begins to focus their investigation on an old political rival from his home state. MPD Detective Lewis, who has been placed in charge of the case, accepts the assistance of Special Agent Colfax of the FBI with great reluctance, as he resents federal intrusion into what appears to be a simple and rather careless murder. Meanwhile, members of Congress on both sides of the aisle react to their colleague's death by introducing a new set of gun control laws. Then two more members die within minutes of one another, but with each killing remaining a distinct event. One is poisoned while dining with a friend; the other is stabbed while walking through a crowd to his car. Acting on a suggestion from their medical examiner, Lewis and Colfax develop a theory that the same person was not only responsible for but actually committed all three homicides. And when the Commandant of the Marine Corps turns up in Saint Patrick's Church without his head, it confirms their suspicions: the murders are the work of an atypical single serial killer with a very particular taste in victims. The attempts of the MPD and the FBI to form a unified task force to oversee the investigation are thwarted by the efforts of the Secretary of Homeland Security, who does not believe in the serial killer theory. Seeking to expand his own role in the case, he advocates for treating the murders as an act of terrorism committed by a group and uses the Secret Service to disrupt the proceedings of the joint force, resulting in the government's resources being divided between two separate investigations. In spite of his obstruction, the director of the FBI and the Solicitor General manage to secure the assistance of the National Security Agency, which turns its computing power to running down a suspect who fits every facet of the behavioral profile developed by the detectives. If successful, it will identify the killer based on his psychology alone, a task that is vitally important considering the absence of forensic evidence in every one of the murders. But while the computers are thinking about it, the killer removes another member of Congress. And another. And another...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1532880820
• ISBN13: 9781532880827
• Release Date: May 2016
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 306 Pages
• Weight: 1.17 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.7" x 6.0"