A brutal murder stuns the quiet South Jersey suburbs of Philadelphia. No grieving parents come forward to claim the unknown girl's body, and there aren't any clues. The police are inexperienced. The local media are casting blame and demanding answers. A mini-culture war is brewing . . . So what do the civic leaders do? They hire Bruno X, Psychic Detective. No joke, the guy's got talent. And a track record. Sure, his psychic shtick is a bit unorthodox. Yet, somehow, he gets results-solving long-forgotten mysteries locked inside the old brick Quaker meeting house, and uncovering closely held secrets hidden within the biotech company whose symbol is the Violet Crow.

Michael Sheldon was born in Philadelphia and grew up in Haddonfield, New Jersey. His father was a dentist, which accounts for Michael’s sense of humor. His mother, a Jewish philosopher without peer, instilled in him the notion that the world doesn’t owe you a living—and a love of raw oysters and dry martinis. His training in the craft of storytelling came from reading the masters, beginning with Chaucer and Rabelais, through Sterne, to MacDonald and Westlake.