Signatures by James A. Hetley (
ISFDB) is his standalone contemporary urban fantasy murder mystery novel, starring a retired police forensic wizard tracking down the culprit behind the mysterious dreams of an old, dead criminal whose magical signature is now adorning new murder victims, free for a limited time courtesy of the author himself via the Book View Café backlist author re-publishing consortium.
Currently free, probably through February as one of their monthly specials @
the Book View Café (DRM-free ePub & Mobi available worldwide, requires filling out billing address during checkout but no account signup or payment info)
Be sure to check out the other offers on their
free fiction and
monthly specials pages, where there are often good discount deals for both newly-written and backlist titles from established sfnal authors (slim pickings this month, for some reason).
Description
John Patterson thinks he damn well earned his pension. He survived more than twenty years as a police forensic wizard, tracking down and fighting the worst that criminal magic could throw at him. If he could only retire the nightmares, as well.
Some of those nightmares feature Albert Kratz, alias Albertus Magnus, a psychopathic criminal mage Patterson trapped in a burning building years ago. So why is a dead man leaving his unique magical signature on the grisly “artistic” murder of a diplomatic courier?
Detective Sergeant Nef Cash recognizes that crime scene from old file photos and drags Patterson out of retirement to fight a deadly enemy one more time. Cash has her own motives besides police work, and her move will turn his personal life inside out.