Jennifer Sherman, Writer 

Sloan Grant(s) Received:  2017, Screenwriting Award, New York University 

Project Type: Feature 

Genre: Thriller 

Length: 101 pages 

Field of Science: Biology 

Stage: Development 

Synopsis 

In 1871 Chicago, budding detective John Mayler loses his young son in the Great Fire. The only vestige of that night? The memory of the ash fingerprint his son left behind on the door that locked him inside the burning room. Twenty years later, John’s a different man: a barkeep with a drinking problem, a short fuse, and an obsession with the night that tore his life to pieces. When an old comrade in detective training (and the current Captain of the Detective Division) asks him for help in the investigation of another child-oriented crime, John’s paternal instinct kicks him back into drive. He leaves the comfort of his forgotten life behind, putting everything he has into solving the case—and relying on his son’s fingerprint in a way nobody ever thought possible.