residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. Now she is a latent print examiner and certified crime analyst for the Cape Coral Police Department in Florida, working mostly with fingerprints and crime scenes. She is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the International Association for Identification, and the International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts, and has testified in court as an expert witness over 65 times. Her books have been translated into six languages and she was named finalist for the prestigious Sue Grafton Memorial Award for Perish.
Here Black dreamcasts the latest Locard Institute thriller, The Deepest Kill:
This story is, basically, the Laci Petersen murder if Laci Petersen’s dad was Bill Gates. Software pioneer Martin Post, the third richest man in America, has summoned expert forensic analysts Ellie Carr and Rachael Davies of the renowned Locard Institute. He believes his daughter's recent death was no accident. Was it a kidnapping gone wrong? Could their new defense initiative for the US military have played a part in her death? Martin believes his charmer son-in-law Greg is behind the murder, drawing Ellie and Rachael into the Posts’ increasingly dangerous family dynamic.Learn more about the book and author at Lisa Black's website.
My casting of the main characters has not changed since the previous What Harms You.
Former pathologist Dr. Rachael Davies is thirty-eight, divorced, and raising her late sister’s toddler son. She’s given ten years of her life to build the Locard into what it is loves what it has become. My choice for her part would be Gabrielle Union—older than the role but looks too young for it, and way more beautiful than one would expect a scientist to be. But I think she’d be perfect for the intriguing and brilliant Rachael.
Ellie Carr, also a doctor (of forensics), left the FBI to follow her passion for CSI work. This is her first ‘private client’ case with the Locard and she wants to make good—plus, they’re in Naples, Florida where she lived for a while. Casting her is a tough choice…smart and beautiful, but emotionally a bit clueless, lighthearted without being fluffy. I would love Tatiana Maslany.
As for my FBI agents, Michael Tyler would ideally be filled by the man I’ve pictured every time I’ve turned him into a character for the past thirty years: Michael Ironside. We’d have to turn the clock back thirty years to make him right for the role, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. And as long as I’m reaching for the stars, I’d love John Leguizamo for agent Luis Alvarez. He has the right combination of strength and humor needed to balance Michael’s seriousness.
Martin Post is a bit nerdy, a bit strange, and a bit scary. Maybe Michael Imperioli, now that he’s gray. But Michael Shannon would fit the bill. He’s always a little intense and scary.
His quiet but stunning wife Dani needs a cool blond along the lines of Rosamund Pike, but Rosamund Pike would never bother with such a small role. Ditto Christina Applegate.
Greg could be played by any terribly handsome young man, but I picture someone like Ian Somerhalder, with that impish face…his smile could be cute and mischievous or callous and terrifying, and you’d never be quite sure which.
In The Deepest Kill, the over-the-top wealth of the Post family would combine with the setting on the banks of the Gulf of Mexico and make one non-stop thrill ride of tension.
My Book, The Movie: Unpunished.
My Book, The Movie: Perish.
My Book, The Movie: What Harms You.
--Marshal Zeringue
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