I had never written a book about a serial killer until Your Move, my seventh Carol Golden novel. In writing it I came to realize how scary serial killers are, because once they start killing they will probably continue killing until they are caught—or die.

The Golden State Killer, recently identified using DNA analysis, started killing in the 1970s, but hasn’t killed recently, apparently because he became too old. It’s difficult to commit murder when you’re in a wheelchair. Serial killers used to be hard to catch, but now, using DNA, their days may be numbered. That’s a good thing, but the use of DNA to identify people raises important questions of privacy for us all.

Serial killers are also almost impossible to recognize. Ann Rule writes about serial killer Ted Bundy in The Stranger Beside Me that she once worked with him on a crisis hotline, and that he was charming, sensitive and trustworthy. Of course, these traits made it easier for him to lure his victims. It’s possible he may have starting killing back in his youth when he was a paperboy.

Fortunately, most people who kill others aren’t serial killers. There are many more serial killers depicted on television crime shows than there are in reality. Which brings up the question of whether these shows plus lurid news accounts of real killers make us more fearful of people who at most account for just a few murders a year than of other dangers such as auto accidents that kill thousands of people. Perhaps we’re afraid of the wrong things.

My serial killer in Your Move appears to want to receive recognition for what he does, because he leaves clues that seem to be some sort of puzzle. That’s where Carol Golden comes in because she is a mathematician and puzzle solver. Hopefully, with her help, this person’s career as a serial killer will be a short one.