"The Midnight Murders"
The former detective’s new book "The Midnight Murders," chronicles the long journey of a brother’s pursuit of his brother’s killer.
It begins with a murder when the detective was seven years of age and a promise made to his mother to catch his brother’s killer, and became a police officer after graduating from High School. He quickly rose through the ranks by meritorious service and was promoted to homicide detective. While taking every course and seminar he could on investigative procedure, he continued to work on his brother’s unsolved murder case. Finally, in a desperate gamble to bring the perpetrator to justice, the detective quit his beloved south Florida occupation as a homicide detective and moved back to his boyhood homeland in southern Illinois where he settled his family. There, his investigation encounters a great deal of family resentment and resistance as well as uncooperative acquaintances from his brother’s past. As the suspense built for the former detective, he learned the complicated history of his brother’s return from World War II and his brutal murder shortly before his twentieth birthday. It also becomes clear that he will need to use everything he knows about catching killers to survive this investigation….which he skillfully accomplishes with full disclosure of the “Who” and “Why,” thus ending the 46 year old haunting mystery of the person responsible for the unsolved death of his brother.
Raymond Null was born and raised in Zeigler Illinois and after graduating from high school, he traveled to the Chicago area where he worked and became a member of the United Steel Workers union and later a member of the United Auto Workers union. Being restless while working in the factories he decided to move to the Fort Lauderdale Florida area where he entered into the field of Law Enforcement.
He attended the local Jr. College after graduating from the Police Academy and became interested in creative writing and criminal law.
He furthered his education with classes at the Florida Atlantic University, and extension classes from the University School of Law.
During his time as a uniformed patrol officer, he was instrumental in saving the life of a 71-year-old woman and in a separate incident; he saved a 4-year-old boy from drowning in a rock pit. For these humanly actions, he was awarded citations and honor plaques from the city council and the Police Department. “We are proud to have you as a Officer,” the council President said to Raymond as he read a special tribute commendation for actions “Above and Beyond the Call of Duty,” and placed it into the city’s permanent charter. More honors followed from the Police Chief, the City’s Auxiliary Police dept, the local Fraternal Order of Police, the Greater Fort Lauderdale 100 Club, and the American Police Hall of Fame.
Raymond finished his career with an appointment from the Governor with a permanent appointment to the state crime advisory board and the rank of Chief Supervisor of the Detective Bureau. He returned to his beloved southern Illinois area where he entered into the field of Country Music, and enjoyed life as a Country musician and singer for a short while. After recording in Nashville Tennessee on a couple of occasions, he left the music field and eventually retired from Industrial Executive Management. Today he lives a quiet life with his wife Edith, and spends his time writing songs, movie scripts, and books of actual cases that he has been associated with, short stories, and nostalgic poetry.
Raymond’s claim is that his proudest pieces of work are the above-published book “The Midnight Murders,” which is available at the publisher in e-book or paperback at www.heartsonfirebooks.com, and a movie script titled “”
that is being co-written by well-known scriptwriter….of
Both titles are about the true story of how he investigated and found the answers to the unsolved murder of his own brother … forty-six years after the murder had occurred on a hot July night on a dark secluded lover’s lane in southern Illinois.
Anyone wishing to write to Raymond may do so by contacting him at his e-mail at raydean@mychoice.net.