About BLUNT IMPACT by Lisa Black

          

  The main character in Blunt Impact has my old job: a forensic scientist in the Trace Evidence Department of the coroner’s office in Cleveland, Ohio. Theresa MacLean is quite comfortable with infrared spectroscopy, gunshot residue and dead bodies, but with this case she has to deal with something outside her comfort zone: a recent bereaved, 11 year old semi-street-urchin nicknamed Ghost. 

Ghost’s mother was a lively young construction worker thrown from the 23^rd floor of a controversial new jail as Ghost watched. Now Ghost will stop at nothing to find the truth and Theresa will stop at nothing to keep the child safe. 

This book caused a true rift between myself and my former editor and sounded my death knell as a HarperCollins author. I originally wrote Ghost’s life history as much more bleak, and her mother something in the “Precious” mode. As a comfy suburban dweller I found the little girl’s survival system captivating. But my editor didn’t care for it and wanted her to be ‘more middle-class.’ I pointed out that a middle-class child would not, one hoped, be roaming around downtown Cleveland in the middle of the night…this did no good. 

I rewrote her entire structure and HarperCollins dropped me anyway. This is why I loathe rewriting, the nerve wracking practice of changing parts of the story—I never know if I’m making things better, or worse. However some of the new parts turned out so well…the villain had more depths to him, and gets far too close for comfort to Theresa’s plucky little friend more often than in the original version. Ghost came out less edgy but more layered. The process may not have been fun, but it became fascinating.

 

Blunt Impact Blurb:

Blunt Impact will be available April 1, featuring forensic scientist Theresa MacLean and a series of murders surrounding a skyscraper under construction in downtown Cleveland. 
The first to die is young, sexy concrete worker Samantha, thrown from the 23^rd floor. The only witness is her 11 year old daughter Anna, nicknamed Ghost. Ghost will stop at nothing to find her mother’s killer, and Theresa will stop at nothing to keep Ghost safe. 
  
Also, Kindle owners can find a bargain in my new book The Prague Project, written under the name Beth Cheylan. A death in West Virginia sends FBI agent Ellie Gardner and NYPD Counterterrorism Lieutenant Michael Stewart on a chase across Europe as they track stolen nukes and lost Nazi gold, hoping to avert the death of millions of people.

Bio: Lisa Black spent the five happiest years of her life in a morgue. As a forensic scientist in the Cleveland coroner’s office she analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. Now she’s a certified latent print examiner and CSI for the Cape Coral Police Department. Her books have been translated into six languages.  

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Evidence of Murder reached the NYT mass market bestseller’s list.

            

 See my website at:www.lisa-black.com