Blood Trail

Now updated with a new afterword, the classic true crime thriller by journalist Steven Walker and veteran police detective Rick Reed exploring the grisly crimes of a sadistic serial killer who dismembered his victims.

Joseph Weldon Brown confessed to more than a dozen murders across seven states. He was convicted and sentenced for killing a woman whose body he dismembered and scattered across three Indiana counties. In prison, he hogtied and strangled his cellmate, then asked the judge to lock him up for life because if he was released, he would continue killing.

Police detective Rick Reed was on the scene when Brown led authorities to the scattered remains of Ginger Gasaway in 2000. After Brown’s arrest, he confessed to a shocking number of other heinous crimes--the torture and murders of drifters and sex workers, the cold case of a naked woman’s body found in a roadside ditch, even the murder of his own mother. Detective Reed was the one man Brown opened up to--and the only one to cut through the deceptions and lies and learn the terrible truth . . .

In this newly updated edition, now-retired detective Reed reveals his personal theories and insights into one of the darkest minds he has ever encountered--and one of the most terrifying crime stories ever told . . .

Steven Walker has approximately 1,500 published credits to his name. He was born in Heidelberg, Germany and started freelancing professionally in 1989, beginning mostly with short horror fiction pieces for small press publications. In 1996, Walker had his first horror novel, Desmodus, published. Shortly after that, he opened up the Bucks County, PA chapter of Active Voice International, and was pivotal in the creation of The Writers Room of Bucks County and Bucks County Writer magazine. Walker founded the Lehigh Valley Writers Academy in 2001. He worked as a reporter for The Morning Call newspaper (a division of The Tribune Company) for three years. He has had nonfiction pieces published in newspapers and magazines and has received several awards for his macabre style of poetry. His book, Blood Trail (2005, Pinnacle, ISBN 0-7860-1719-8) is a true-crime story about a confessed serial killer from Indiana. Due to unprecedented popularity, it has been re-released as of June 2009. His latest true-crime book, Predator, (2010, Pinnacle, ISBN 0-7860-2018-0) is scheduled for release January 5, 2010.

Sergeant Rick Reed (Ret.), author of the Jack Murphy thriller series, is a 20-plus-year veteran police detective. During his career he successfully investigated numerous high-profile criminal cases, including a serial killer who claimed thirteen victims before strangling and dismembering his fourteenth and last victim. He recounted that story in his acclaimed true-crime book, Blood Trail. Reed spent his last three years on the force as the commander of the police department’s Internal Affairs Section. He has two master’s degrees, and upon retiring from the police force, he took a full-time teaching position. He currently teaches criminal justice at Volunteer State Community College in Tennessee and writes thrillers. He lives near Nashville with his wife and two furry friends, Lexie and Belle. Please visit him on Facebook, on Goodreads, or at his website, rickreedbooks.com. If you’d like him to speak online for your event, contact him by going to bookclubreading.com.