Welcome to the online home of Ron Handberg Books, featuring my latest mystery, again set in a mythical Twin Cities television newsroom. "Deadly Reunion" was published Sept. 1, 2010 (North Star Press of St. Cloud, Trade Paperback: $14.95).Veteran TV news director George Barclay is an unlikely hero: single, ungainly, and—by his own admission—something of a social misfit, ill-at-ease almost everywhere except in his own newsroom, where he is a respected journalist, admired by colleagues and competitors alike.
On a whim, Barclay decides to attend his 25th high school reunion—mostly to catch a glimpse of a girl for whom he’d had a long-distance crush a quarter-century before. Instead, he is shocked to learn that she and two other young women had been raped and murdered by an apparent serial killer several years after their high school graduation. Crimes that have gone unsolved for almost two decades.
“The thought of this girl, this woman, once so alive, lying dead and discarded in some park, those glistening eyes lifeless, that wonderful body cold and violated, made him as angry—and sad—as he had ever felt.”
In the days that follow, a reluctant Barclay is persuaded by the dead girl’s still-grieving friends to pursue the old and cold case, teaming up with a crusty, retired homicide detective who led the original investigation into the murders.
Barclay’s meticulous investigation and intuition lead him down a surprising path never followed by police, and straight into the arms of a killer who has been hiding in plain sight for almost twenty years.
Advance Praise for "Deadly Reunion":
“Start spreading the news! Ron Handberg is back with a new dose of murder, mystery, and media intrigue.” (Brian Freeman, author of The Burying Place)
“No author today captures the personality of a working newsroom the way Ron Handberg does. He is an old-school reporter for whom journalism is not a job, but a calling. There is a lot of passion in this book and its characters, but the chief passion is the drive to find the truth and tell it – long after the truth has been given up for dead.” (Don Shelby, veteran TV reporter and anchor)