Mystery authors D.M. Pulley and Michael Jordan will talk about their new books, each related to Cleveland's infamous torso killer, on Saturday, March 24th at 5 p.m.
D.M. Pulley has been inspired by Cleveland history in two of her three novels. The latest, Unclaimed Victim straddles the decades to explore what happened to the victims of the torso murderer.
In 1938, at the height of the Great Depression, a madman hunts his victims through the hobo jungles of Cleveland, terrorizing the city. Ethel Harding, a prostitute struggling to survive both the cold streets and the Torso Killer, takes refuge with a devout missionary sect--only to find that its righteous facade conceals the darkest of secrets.
Sixty years later, the police find the butchered body of Alfred Wiley in the woods. But before his daughter, Kris, can even identify the remains, things he never told her begin to surface one by one--a mysterious private eye who'd been tracking him, an eerie website devoted to the unsolved "Torso" murders, missing archives, stolen books, and an abandoned Bible factory harboring vagrants. The more she learns about her father's obsession with the Torso Killer, the more Alfred's death appears to be related, pulling Kris further into Cleveland's hellish past.
Living decades apart, Ethel and Kris must unravel the truth behind the city's most notorious serial killer...or die trying.
Before becoming a full-time writer, D.M.worked as a Professional Engineer, rehabbing historic structures and conducting forensic investigations of building failures. Pulley's structural survey of a vacant building in Cleveland inspired her debut novel, The Dead Key. She is also the author of The Buried Book.
Lawyer Michael Jordan had his interest piqued in the torso case when he saw a photograph of Kingsbury Run, where many of the victims were found. In his novel The Company of Demons the brutal murder of a friend leaves lawyer John Coleman stunned and sends shockwaves through the city of Cleveland. The technique of the killing recalls memories of the Torso Murderer, who dismembered at least twelve people decades ago and then vanished--eluding even legendary crime fighter Eliot Ness. Jennifer, the victim's beautiful daughter, hires John to handle her father's estate, and romantic feelings for her soon complicate his already troubled marriage. When John finds himself entangled with a cold-blooded biker gang, an ex-cop with a fuzzy past, and the drug-addicted son of the dead man, he struggles to make sense of it all.
Michael Jordan obtained his undergraduate degree from Ohio Wesleyan University and his law degree from George Washington University, where he was a member of the Law Review. He has been a trial lawyer and arbitrator for over three decades. The Company of Demons is his first novel.
A native of Saginaw, Michigan, Michael and his wife, Linda Gross Brown, a soft pastel artist, divide their time between homes in Rocky River, Ohio, and Longboat Key, Florida.