Rebecca A. Miles (Stepek) was raised, educated, and established her first career in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. From her work in Behavioral Medicine in Oncology, she became a recognized expert and presenter on grief, the grieving process, and the psychology of dealing with loss.
Throughout the successful Pittsburgh Murder Mystery trilogy, Ground Truth, Broken Glass, Locked Box, she explores the themes of love and loss, two states that she considers to be universal in human experience. As the series unfolds, her main characters are revealed to be people who are psychologically flawed, literate, funny, and often courageous in their search for the murderer.
Miles portrays deep and lasting friendships as the healing salve for the personal and public losses that are visited on the victims of crime, and especially on amateur sleuth Kate Chambers and Chief Detective Stefan Jablonsky. Her readers close the last page of each novel satisfied that Kate, Johnny, Joan, Jablonsky, Patel, and Antoine DeVille have meted out justice and continue to thrive through their collaboration and friendship.
When not writing, you will find Rebecca knee-deep in research for her next book. She enjoys introducing her readers to the well-known public spaces of Pittsburgh and to the small secret places about which only locals know. Her mystery novels are book club picks; she provides a discussion guide posted on the Torchflame Books site.
Rebecca A. Miles holds a doctorate in psychology from Duquesne University.
Broken Glass
Obsession can be deadly.
When a fellow student in her glass blowing class drops dead, finding his killer becomes personal for amateur sleuth Kate Chambers. The young Eugene Rose had a bright future as a historian in the world of art collecting; luckily for Chief Detective Jablonsky, Kate’s connections to that world make her a valuable asset to his investigations. Her people skills open doors into situations that the chief needs a warrant to enter, and even though he often fears for her safety, her psychological insights have proven worth the risk.
The deeper they dig, the more complicated this case becomes. How is a family heirloom tied to the local parish? What really happened on a study abroad trip to Italy? And how did all of that lead to the untimely death of Eugene Rose?
Kate and Jablonksy are determined to catch Eugene Rose’s murderer before more deaths follow.
This traditional mystery will keep you guessing all the way to the end. Broken Glass is the second book in the Pittsburgh Murder Mystery series; however, each book can be read as a stand-alone or in order of publication.
More info →
Ground Truth
Kate Chambers knows that cold cases are almost always a lost cause.
So when two skeletons are discovered in Pittsburgh and Kate believes that she has insider information about the crime, she joins Chief Detective Stefan Jablonsky in his investigation. She's determined to find justice for the family.
It doesn't take long to identify the victims: two siblings who had gone missing twenty years ago. As Kate digs into the neighborhood and Jablonsky starts chasing down leads, the list of suspects grows.
With the cold case reopened and witnesses dying soon after coming forward, it's clear that someone has a lot to lose. Kate and Jablonsky must work together to unravel the mysteries and make sure that whoever killed the siblings doesn't get away with murder a second time.
Perfect for fans of Louise Penny, Ann Cleeves, and Kerry Greenwood, this mystery will keep you guessing all the way to the end.
More info →
Locked Box
Celine Arceneau was admitted to the hospital for food poisoning and declared medically stable before her physician, Ellen Smythe, left for the evening. When she died the next morning from an unknown cause, Chief Detective Stefan Jablonsky suspects foul play and eyes Dr. Smythe, Dr. Kate Chambers’ friend and mentor, as his prime suspect. Pittsburgh’s amateur sleuth quickly joins the fight to prove her friend’s innocence.
Chief Detective Jablonsky and Kate Chambers have worked together in the past; he finds her and her university friends to be elitist and annoying, but grudgingly effective, and she finds him to be a stodgy, old-school detective, but one who always gets the killer. Jablonsky and Kate must put aside their differences to catch the culprit before the body count rises.
This psychological mystery will hold you captive until the very end. Locked Box is the third book in the Pittsburgh Murder Mystery series: however, each book can be read as a stand-alone or in order of publication.
More info →
