Chasing Down the Zombie Hunter: The True Story of a Small-Town Accountant, an Elite Group of Detectives, and Arizona’s Most Terrifying Cold Case

Retired police sergeant Hillman recounts his investigation into a pair of murders that haunted Arizona for decades in this chilling true crime debut. In the early 1990s, two young women were raped and murdered near a popular canal bike path in Phoenix. The cases became known as the Canal Murders and went unsolved for years. In 1997, Hillman left his job as an accountant to join the Phoenix PD’s cold case unit, and in the 2010s, after a public record request brought the Canal Murders back to the fore, he became obsessed with the cases. Convinced the murders were committed by a serial killer, Hillman enlisted the FBI and the Philadelphia-based Vidocq Society—a volunteer group of retired forensic experts—to help him and his fellow Arizona officers identify possible suspects. After several false leads, Hillman’s team arrested an eccentric man named Bryan Miller, who publicly cosplayed as a character named the Zombie Hunter, driving around town in a decked-out vintage police car and wearing a homemade mask. He was convicted in 2023 after being arrested on DNA evidence. Hillman effectively balances the grunt work and exciting breakthroughs of cold case investigation, mostly letting the story’s jaw-dropping developments speak for themselves. It’s a wild ride. Agent: Lindsey Smith, Speilburg Literary. (Oct.)