Dan Riker

The Blue Girl Murders Dan Riker

In THE BLUE GIRL MURDERS, a series of gruesome murders of beautiful young blondes rocks Baltimore during the summer of 1966 when the city already is in turmoil from a police scandal and from enormous racial tension resulting from desegregation efforts by the Congress of Racial Equality and "White Power" rallies by the National States Rights Party. UPI Baltimore bureau manager Nick Prescott goes from covering these stories to trying to help homicide detective Maury Antonelli solve the murders when one of his closest friends becomes a suspect. Prescott uncovers a trail of murder, infidelity and insanity that exposes the killer and puts his own life in mortal danger. The cultural, political and social changes, great music and historic events of 1966 provide the backdrop and themes of this historical mystery. The author was a reporter for United Press International in Baltimore in 1966 and covered many of the events described in the novel. Among the real people who appear in the novel are the soon-to-be Governor (and eventual Vice President), Spiro Agnew, Baltimore Mayor Theodore McKeldin and Stokely Carmichael. A soundtrack of the music featured in the novel is listed at the beginning.