We are delighted to welcome author Catherine Finger to Omnimystery News today.
Catherine's first in a new series featuring Police Chief Jo Oliver is Cleansed by Death (HopeSprings Books; April 2016 trade paperback and ebook formats) and we are pleased to introduce you to it with an excerpt from it.
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WE CROUCHED IN THE WOODS NEAR my cabin, my lower abdomen pressed up against the unyielding leather of my gun belt, a small roll of fat leaking out of the bottom of the Kevlar vest encircling my upper body. It might not have been a bad idea to up my fifty crunches a day regime now that I was staring down the double barrel of forty. Or maybe just start doing them. The polyester fibers of the uniform I had donned melted into the cover of the Kevlar vest, and I didn't care what the care tag read; polyester did not breathe well. We'd been wearing this gear longer than I wanted, but it fueled my anger and gave me a sense of power.
Nick's nudge snapped me back to full attention. Stone was on my left, and Nick and Gino squatted on my right. Each clasped an AR-15 aloft and in ready position. I held my trusty service pistol in my right hand.
A SWAT team crouched behind us, ready to storm the building. All in all, power was on our side. Firepower, manpower, enough power to take out this evil monster. The breaching team slipped into place, shouldering their battering ram as if it weighed no more than a fringed rug. The lead man gave me a thumbs-up and waited for my signal to charge. Thanks to Nick, the Feds had given up trying to wrestle command away from me for the take down. This was personal. My girl. My cabin. My case. Mine to win, lose, or die trying.
There were no windows in the heavy wooden door of the cabin. We probably hadn't given ourselves away. The terrible pressure of knowing every second was life or death for my little girl bore down hard on me. And she would be my little girl; she was my little girl. Pending divorce or no, the paperwork would start tomorrow. The adoption was a done deal in my heart. I lifted my head, gave the nod to the breaching team, and unleashed hell on the demon inside.
Everything happened at once, like a well-choreographed dance. The moves went down exactly as we'd planned on the drive over. The door gave way after one swing. I was the first one into the room, with Stone and Nick and Gino on my six and dozens of cops and agents waiting outside. The entire operation unfolded in a smooth, free flow of room-clearing tactics. Men peeled off in all directions, securing the small dwelling in seconds. We located the perp in the back of the living room, up against the wall, bent over a toolbox of metal tools. A little heap rested on a dirty mat on the floor, at a ninety-degree angle from the killer. Please let her still be alive.
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Photo provided courtesy of
Catherine Finger
Like her heroine, Police Chief Jo Oliver, Dr. Catherine Finger is committed to protect and serve. But instead of handcuffs and handguns, she uses her wit and wisdom as a high school superintendent and a community volunteer in northern Illinois.
For more information about the author, please visit her website at CatherineFinger.com and her author page on Goodreads, or find her on Facebook and Twitter.
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Cleansed by Death by Catherine Finger
A Jo Oliver Thriller
Publisher: HopeSprings Books
For four years, Josie Oliver has been Chief of Police of the quiet village of Haversport, Illinois. She's kept her husband's abuse a secret, until today. Adding to the chaos of her personal life, her old flame drags her into the FBI's investigation of the Mentor Sister Serial Killer.
As the Christmas holiday approaches, the serial killer escalates. And so does her husband, leaving Jo fighting for her marriage, faith, and fate.
— Cleansed by Death by Catherine Finger. Click here to take a Look Inside the book.
