In the early 1950s, a professor in tiny Peru, Nebraska strode into a college president's office and shot him dead, then killed himself. Though few remember this terrible event, it inspired J. Alexander Greenwood to write the novel "Pilate's Cross." Today Greenwood is a public relations consultant in Kansas City, but in late 2003 he moved to Nebraska's Peru State College for a two-year stint as director of marketing and public relations. Nestled in the rural "Campus of a Thousand Oaks," he found the inspiration for a mystery story. “The real core of this book is about the open secrets that can fester in a community until an outsider raises questions,” Greenwood said. Greenwood eventually gained access to police records, crime scene photos, witness affidavits and news coverage of the decades-old murders, but the resulting book is not a thinly veiled fictionalization of an historical event. “The professor’s motive was, in the grand scheme of things, terribly petty,” Greenwood said. “'Pilate’s Cross' is inspired by the questions this terrible crime created; but as a work of fiction it's set in a different place and has a more complex motive for the murders." "Nearly all aspects of the book, including the location, characters and most importantly the mystery are strictly products of my imagination. However, recent real-life events are chilling in their similarities." The "Pilate's Cross" book cover by David A. Terrill was selected as one of three finalists in the Best Fiction Ebook Cover category of the 2011 Global Ebook Awards. It was also nominated for a 2011 Global Ebook Award in the Best Mystery/Thriller category and in the Best Fiction Ebook Trailer category. "Pilate's Cross" has action, mystery, romance and adventure--all in one suspenseful read. Find out for yourself why washing your hands of murder isn't easy.