I preferred it when life came in tidy packages. When it didnโt โ when something went awry โ I was exceedingly skilled at packaging it back up. It was my job to do so, after all.
I was a reconstructionist.
I collected the puzzle pieces, then I gave those pieces to an investigative team to sort out. I didnโt ask questions. I didnโt offer answers. I saw, I recorded, and I moved on.
I didnโt dwell or obsess. I didnโt hunt down suspects. I didnโt follow clues to find a killer. And I certainly didnโt work side by side with anyone โ least of all a vampire who I strongly suspected might turn out to be the major missing component when the case was complete.
Then I saw something I couldnโt forget. It wasnโt the bloodiest thing Iโd ever seen โ it wasnโt even close โ but it haunted me. I didnโt like being haunted.
But I couldnโt figure out how to get it out of my head.
Someone was killing teenaged boys in the Pacific Northwest. Despite my misgivings, if I could help catch a killer, I had to at least try.
Catching Echoes is the first book in the Reconstructionist series, which is set in the same universe as the Dowser, Oracle, Amplifier, Archivist, and Misfits of the Adept Universe series. While it is not necessary to read all the series, in order to avoid spoilers the ideal reading order of the Adept Universe begins with Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic (Dowser 1).
Reading order, not including short stories: