AT FIRST LIGHT

The Chicago Police Department turns to a forensic semiotician when mysterious runes are found on a corpse.

Amateur falconer Evan Wilding notices things. Out hunting with his hawk, Ginny, he notices that someone’s been killing pigeons, not for food or sport, but cutting them with knives as though practicing. Around the same time, the discovery of a body on the banks of the Calumet River gives Detective Addie Bisset, Evan’s friend and sometime collaborator on human murders, her next case. Struck by the deliberate arrangement of the body, Addie suspects that this crime is different. Her suspicion is fueled by the discovery of a series of symbols, almost like letters, nearby. Addie’s happy to have an excuse to connect with Evan. While the rest of the department sometimes looks down on Evan, often literally given his short stature as a person with dwarfism, Addie’s always been impressed with his wealth of knowledge as a forensic semiotician. After all, the University of Chicago doesn’t hire just anyone, and Evan’s expertise is so impressive that it sometimes makes Addie consider giving up her penchant for bad boys to pursue something with him. Although Evan and his research assistant can figure out the symbols are runes associated with the Viking Age, their discovery doesn’t shed much light on the murder. So Addie’s colleagues consult Ralph Rhinehart, a specialist in cultural anthropology and dark magic who wastes no time developing a profile of the perp. But Evan hesitates to adopt Rhinehart’s easy answers, and the rivals’ verbal one-upmanship does little to help the department catch a killer whose body count is rising.

Well-researched enough to satisfy those up for a deep dive. Casual readers may look elsewhere.