Bad JuJu

Drugs....murder....voodoo! Four men are found brutally slain in an abandoned house on Cleveland's east side, one with ties to City Hall and all marked with a mysterious symbol. When Detective Nicholas Silvano is called to the case, he finds this drug-deal-gone-wrong is anything but ordinary and the search for an elusive killer is on. With FBI Agent James Reis creating roadblocks at every turn, Silvano teams up with DEA Agent Charley Goetz on a manhunt that takes them from Cleveland to the shady side of Florida, where anything can be had for a price. The stakes become higher when the killer makes it personal, forcing Nick to face feelings he'd been denying for so long.

KARL BORT was a United States Air Force jet mechanic in Texas and Georgia before joining the Cleveland, Ohio Police Department. During his 27-year police career, he worked Patrol, Auto Theft, and spent 11 years as a Narcotics Detective. He worked closely with the DEA, including a two-year assignment on national cases, often in an undercover role. As the elected president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, Karl was responsible for negotiating contracts and protecting the rights of all Cleveland Police Officers. Following retirement, he returned to school, became a Licensed Practical Nurse, and worked 15 years as a medical surgical nurse and psychiatric nurse for the Cleveland Clinic. Karl spent his second "retirement" in Ohio with his wife Cheryl, children and grandchildren, fishing, boating, attending his grandchildren's sports games and writing crime thrillers.

THEKLA MADSEN was a corporate business analyst, technical writer, and marketing consultant. She has worked for cooperative and corporate businesses in the agriculture, medical, and banking and financial services industries, was executive editor, writer and photographer for a regional women's magazine, and has published articles in national trade magazines. Thekla is a member of the Wisconsin Writer's Association and the Twin Cities Chapter of Sisters In Crime. Her short story, It Never Ends Well, is published in "Minnesota Not So Nice: Eighteen Tales of Bad Behavior, " an anthology edited by Barbara Merritt Deese, Pat Dennis, Michael Allan Mallory, Timya Owen and the Forward by Brian Freeman. Thekla and her husband live in Wisconsin on the family's sesquicentennial farm.