Hunt For The Serial Arsonist

Fires were breaking out all over greater Los Angeles. Suspicious fires. From the mid-1980s to the early ´90s, dozens of retail businesses were bursting into flames.

With precious few clues to go on, authorities piece together a case based on a malfunctioning incendiary device, a smudged fingerprint, a peculiar pattern of outbreaks and the strangest development of all: an incriminating, unpublished novel sent to a literary agent. These events net a surprising suspect. A clue: the suspect was filmed by NOVA.

As the investigation unfolds, it has all the elements of a classic detective story: the serendipitous lead, the culling of suspects, the fortuitous fingerprint, the disastrous miscalculation, the carefully orchestrated surveillance - and the artfully dodged surveillance - and the inevitable bizarre twist.