A Thousand Cuts (2011)
By Simon Lelic

***Nominated for the 2011 Macavity Award***

Starred Reviews by both Publisher's Weekly and Booklist

A stunning debut novel that unravels the hidden story behind a school shooting

It should be an open-and-shut case. Samuel Szajkowski, a recently hired history teacher, walked into a school assembly with a gun and murdered three students and a colleague before turning the weapon on himself. It was a tragedy that could not have been predicted. Szajkowski, it seems clear, was a psychopath beyond help. Yet as Detective Inspector Lucia May- the only woman in her high-testosterone office in the Criminal Investigations Department-begins to piece together the testimonies of the various witnesses, an uglier and more complex picture emerges, calling into question the innocence of others. But no one, including Lucia's boss, is interested.

As the pressure to close the case builds and her colleagues' sexism takes a sinister turn, Lucia begins to realize that she has more in common with the killer than she could have imagined, and she becomes deter mined to expose the truth. Brilliantly interweaving the witnesses' accounts with Lucia's own perspective, A Thousand Cuts is a narrative tour de force from a formidable new voice in fiction. (Description taken from Syndetic Solutions, Inc.)

Invisible Boy (2010)
By Cornelia Read

***Won Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year in 2010***

Publisher's Weekly Starred Review

The smart-mouthed but sensitive runaway socialite Madeline Dare is shocked when she discovers the skeleton of a brutalized three-year-old boy in her own weed-ridden family cemetery outside Manhattan. Determined to see that justice is served, she finds herself examining her own troubled personal history, and the sometimes hidden, sometimes all-too-public class and racial warfare that penetrates every level of society in the savage streets of New York City during the early 1990s.

Madeline is aided in her efforts by a colorful assemblage of friends, relatives, and new acquaintances, each one representing a separate strand of the patchwork mosaic city politicians like to brag about. The result is an unforgettable narrative that relates the causes and consequences of a vicious crime to the wider relationships that connect and divide us all. (Book Description taken from Amazon)

The Scent of Rain and Lightning (2010)
By Nancy Pickard

***Nominated for the Agatha Award in 2010
Nominated for the Macavity Award in 2011***

Starred Reviews by both Publisher's Weekly and Booklist

A decades-old mystery is solved and a woman’s haunting questions put to rest in Pickard’s latest thriller. When she was just three years old, Jody Linder lost both parents in one night, when her father, Hugh Jay—eldest son of the wealthiest rancher in the small town of Rose, Kansas—was killed and her mother, Laurie, vanished. Raised by grandparents, Hugh Senior and Annabelle Linder, and with loving support from three uncles, Jody spends years collecting human detritus around the area’s towering Testament Rocks, where authorities once searched for clues to Laurie’s disappearance. Jody’s world is rocked 23 years later when Billy Crosby, the vicious drunk convicted of her father’s murder on circumstantial evidence, is released for a new trial; his return to town brings events to a head. Pickard shows her storytelling skills, weaving elements of deception, revenge, and romance into a novel with full-bodied characters who deal with tragedy as best they can; Annabelle Linder’s encounter with Crosby’s wife is particularly moving. From an award-winning author, this is engrossing fiction with an eminently satisfying denouement. (Description taken from Booklist)

Random Violence (2010)
By Jassy MacKenzie

Starred Reviews by both Publisher's Weekly and Library Journal

Set in contemporary South Africa, Mackenzie's triumphant debut introduces PI Jade de Jong. After roaming the world for a decade, Jade returns home to Johannesburg to take her revenge on the convicted murderer, about to be released from prison, who she believes killed her highly respected police commissioner father. Meanwhile, David Patel, her father's former assistant, asks Jade for help in investigating the murder of Annette Botha, gunned down one night after getting out of her car to unlock a malfunctioning automatic gate outside her home. David and Jade later learn that robbers killed Botha's brother a few years earlier, and that the dead woman recently retained a detective, who has since disappeared. The plot has more than its fair share of nice twists, and Mackenzie does a superb job of making the reader care for her gutsy lead while offering a glimpse at life in South Africa after apartheid. Readers will wish Jade a long fictional career. (Description taken from Publisher's Weekly)

Posted by Shiela

It's that time of year again and with all the holiday buzz, you may need a little murder and mayhem to get you through to the new year. Here is a list of cozies to curl up with after the turkey dinner...

Death at the Chateau Bremont (2011)
By M. L. Longworth

Set in charming and historic Aix-en-Provence, France, Death at the Château Bremont introduces readers to Antoine Verlaque, the handsome and seductive chief magistrate of Aix, and his on-again, off- again love interest, law professor Marine Bonnet. When local nobleman Etienne de Bremont falls to his death from the family château, the town is abuzz with rumors. Verlaque suspects foul play and must turn to Marine for help when he discovers that she had been a close friend of the Bremonts. This is a lively whodunit steeped in the rich, enticing, and romantic atmosphere of southern France. (Book Description taken from Amazon)

The Square Root of Murder (2011)
By Ada Madison

This is the first book in this brand new series

Dr. Sophie Knowles teaches math at Henley College in Massachusetts, but when a colleague turns up dead, it's up to her to find the killer before someone else gets subtracted.

Dr. Keith Appleton was the most disliked professor on campus, but it was Sophie's assistant, Rachel, who had a real problem with him--he refused to recommend her to a medical school. Sophie is confident that there's a calculating murderer among them, and equally confident it's not Rachel. The only possible answer is for Sophie to eliminate the lowest common denominator from campus herself. (Book Description taken from both Amazon and book jacket)

Look for the next book in the series coming in the new year:

The Probability of Murder (2012)

A Timely Vision (2010)
By Joyce and Jim Lavene

This is also the first book in a new cozy series

Meet Dae O'Donnell, a woman with a gift for finding lost things-and the stories behind lost lives...

Dae O'Donnell is the mayor of Duck, North Carolina-and the person everyone turns to when they've lost something. One touch and Dae can find it, and missing pieces seem to find their way to her, whether she wants them to or not.

When Miss Mildred asks Dae to find her missing watch, Dae finds herself looking for more than mislaid jewelry-she must prove the town matriarch isn't a cold-blooded killer. (Book Description taken from Amazon)

Look for the next two books in this series:

A Touch of Gold (2011)
A Spirited Gift (2011)

How to Host a Killer Party (2010)
By Penny Warner

Don't let murder crash your party.

Presley Parker was just happy to get her party planning business off the ground. Now she's gotten the gig of the year, planning Mayor Davin Green's sumptuous "surprise" wedding for his socialite fiancée, to be held on Alcatraz.

But when the bride is found floating in the bay and the original party planner is found murdered, Presley becomes the prime suspect. If the attractive crime scene cleaner, Brad Matthews, doesn't help her tidy her reputation, she'll be exchanging her formal wear for prison stripes... (Book Description taken from Amazon)

This is the second book in this series. The first book:

How to Crash a Killer Bash (2010)

Wined and Died (2011)
By Cricket McRae

Home Crafting Mysteries Book #5

First Book: Lye in Wait (2007)

Something is brewing in Cadyville, and it's not only dandelion wine. Sophie Mae is intrigued by a recently discovered cassette recording in which a therapist fearfully contemplates her client's murderous threats. When the same therapist ends up dead, Sophie Mae is lured—despite her husband Barr's warnings not to get involved—into an intoxicating investigation that explores the age-old art of mead and wine making. (Book Description taken from Amazon)

Posted By Shiela

CBC Radio's The Next Chapter - Peter Behrens aired on December 19, hosted by Shelagh Rogers.

The Mystery Book Panel segment of that episode recommended books that are sure to cut the holiday treacle.

Margaret Cannon's picks:

The Affair by Lee Child
Action/adventure/investigator

Book # 16 with Jack Reacher, ex-military policeman in the USA

Summary: Child’s compelling 16th thriller featuring incorruptible vigilante Jack Reacher rewinds the clock to 1997 when Reacher was still a military cop and working on the case that led to his eventual break with the Army. Reacher must figure out whether the shocking murder of 27-year-old Janice May Chapman in Carter Crossing, Miss., has any connection with nearby Fort Kelham, where Army Rangers are trained. . . . Publisher's Weekly

If you haven't started this series yet, read The Affair as a prequel to the first book, Killing Floor

First book: Killing Floor

## Related posts:
MBTB review of Bad Luck and Trouble # 11

MBTB review of 61 Hours # 14

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Feast Day of Fools by James Lee Burke

Book # 3 with Hack Holland, a hard-drinking lawyer, Korean War POW, progressive Democrat, now a sheriff, in Texas

Summary: Interviewing an alcoholic Native American who witnessed a murder along the Texas-Mexico border, Sheriff Hack Holland and his deputy, Sam Tibbs, recognize the work of serial killer Preacher Jack Collins in an investigation that is assisted by the enigmatic Anton Ling.

First book: Lay Down My Sword and Shield

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A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny

Book # 7 with Armand Gamache, Chief Inspector of the Sûreté du Québec, in the village of Three Pines, in southern Quebec

Summary: Artist Clara Morrow is about to have a prestigious show of her paintings when her childhood friend is found murdered, and Chief Inspector Gamache, the head of homicide at the Sûreté du Québec, is called to investigate.

First book: Still Life

## Related post: MBTB review of Still Life # 1

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JD Singh's picks:

I'll See You in My Dreams by William Deverell

Book # 5 with Arthur Beauchamp, a scholarly, self-doubting lawyer retired as a hobbyist farmer on Garibaldi Island, off the coast of British Columbia

Publisher's Weekly /* Starred Review */ Deverell's excellent fifth novel featuring lawyer Arthur Beauchamp finds him retired on Garibaldi Island near Vancouver — and still haunted by his first murder trial. In 1962, he defended Gabriel Swift, a Cheakamus native charged with killing Dermot Mulligan, who ironically was Beauchamp's mentor and classics tutor at university. Excerpts from A Thirst for Justice, a biography of Beauchamp by one Wentworth Chance, counterpoint the vivid picture of the disastrous trial, in which the naïve young Beauchamp had to contend with corrupt policemen, a skilled special prosecutor, and a problematic defendant. Fifty years later, the same case may provide the capstone to his long career. . . .

First book: Trial of Passion

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Twelve Drummers Drumming by C.C. Benison

Book # 1 with Father Tom Christmas, a widower with a 9-year-old daughter, and the new vicar in Thornford Regis, a picturesque village in England

Summary: Father Tom Christmas--recent widower and now single father--is the new vicar of the English village of Thornford Regis. He soon realizes that the idyllic village is not the refuge he'd hoped for when the nineteen-year-old daughter of the choir director is murdered and one of his parishioners appears to be the killer.

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The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz

Summary: With approval from the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a best-selling novelist and Sherlock Holmes expert brings the greatest detective in literary history back to life on Baker Street for the first time since 1930.
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The Bayou Trilogy: Under the bright lights, Muscle for the wing, and The ones you do by Daniel Woodrell

Publisher's Weekly: Collected in a single volume for the first time, Woodrell's three stellar novels featuring Detective Rene Shade, an ex-boxer turned cop, provide entree into the Louisiana swamp town of Saint Bruno, a place where "tempers went on the prowl and relief was driving a hard bargain." Woodrell injects Shade's life and various cases with both humor and brutal violence. . . . There's poetry in Woodrell's mayhem, each novel - and scene-full of gritty and memorable Cajun details.

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PK Rangachari's picks:

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley

Book # 4 with Flavia de Luce, an 11-year old sleuth and aspiring chemist in 1950, in the small village of Bishop’s Lacey, England

Summary: Colonel de Luce rents his beloved estate of Buckshaw to a film company. They will be shooting a movie over the Christmas holidays with a reclusive star. She is widely despised, so it is to no one's surprise when she turns up murdered, strangled by a length of film from one of her own movies! With a blizzard raging outside and Buckshaw locked in, the house is full of suspects. But Flavia de Luce is more than ready to put aside her investigations into the existence of Father Christmas to solve this yuletide country-house murder. NoveList

## Related post: MBTB mini-review of I Am Half-Sick of Shadows

First book: The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

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Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman

Publisher's Weekly: Kelman's debut novel is a well-tuned if simplistic portrait of a kid's life in the housing projects of London. After 11-year-old Harri, whose family has immigrated from Ghana, sees a classmate lying dead on the sidewalk one night, Harri and his buddy, Dean Griffin, set out to solve the murder, looking for the murder weapon, interviewing suspects, and gathering evidence. But the strength of this novel is not its murder mystery; rather, it's in hearing all Harri's thoughts as he falls in love, talks to his baby sister, or expresses himself in his own idiosyncratic language. The street-talk slang that Harri uses-boring things take "donkey hours" and Nike Air trainers are "bo-styles"-is crisp and mirthful, the perfect match to his at once naive and revealing views on things like religion and race. The main flaw is also a feature: Harri's a very well-drawn 11-year-old, and no matter how cute he and his worldview are, it's sometimes tempting to want to pat him on the head and send him along his way.

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Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante

Summary: A retired orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Jennifer White is in the early stages of dementia when she is accused of murdering her neighbour and life-long friend Amanda. Jennifer is the prime suspect, but she doesn't know if she committed the crime.

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(check here for podcast information for The Next Chapter - Peter Behrens aired on December 19)

posted by Sharon

WHAT I'M READING NOW:
Tag Man
by Archer Mayor

American police procedural

Book # 22 with Joe Gunther, police detective in Brattleboro, Vermont

Booklist review says: At the close of Red Herring (2010), Joe Gunther walked away from his job as head of the Vermont Bureau of Investigation. He was bereft because his lover had been killed by an assassin, and he wasn’t sure he could return to work. At the same time, his driven, misanthropic subordinate, Willy Kunkle, learned that he would soon be a father. As Tag Man begins, Joe is still sidelined, and some of Willy’s rougher edges have been smoothed by his infant daughter. Then both Joe and Willy’s attention is caught by an unusual man who breaks into Brattleboro’s most opulent homes, stealing nothing but always leaving a post-it note that says simply, “Tag.” But the Tag Man’s break-ins—in addition to renewing Joe’s commitment to his work—trigger a circuitous series of crimes and events that make for great reading. Richly drawn characters and a delightful sense of place are hallmarks of Mayor’s superb procedurals, and they are both in evidence in this fine addition to the series.

First book: Open Season

## Related post: MBTB mini-review of The Price of Malice # 20

The Mystery Memo is a log of all of my mystery reading, with brief comments and a star rating for each book read. It is published every 4 to 6 weeks. Some of these books have longer reviews or mini-reviews on this blog. In that case, a link will be supplied.

Click here for a printable text-only copy of Mystery Memo # 109 (in Microsoft Word). Here is your chance to download the full list.

This Mystery Memo has one book in the Perfect Read category, Thirteen Hours by Deon Meyer

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Christobel Kent: The Drowning River (2009) ****

Italian private investigator.

Book # 1 with former police officer Sandro Cellini, in Florence, Italy.

MBTB mini-review of The Drowning River

Recommended for fans of Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti (e.g. Death at La Fenice).
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Next book: A Murder in Tuscany

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Deon Meyer: Thirteen Hours (2010) **** ½

Police procedural, South Africa.

Book # 2 with Cape Town police detective Benny Griessel.

MBTB full review of Thirteen Hours

The book covers one long 13 hour day as Benny, close to retirement, mentors a couple young detectives through their cases. One case: a murdered teenaged U.S. tourist found in a graveyard and police believe a second American girl, a friend, is on the run from the murderers; the second case: a murdered music producer, looks like the wife did it, but it’s obvious she was framed. High tension, fast-paced, but easy to understand.

Not necessary to read first book, but you will probably want to: Devil’s Peak

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David Pirie: The Patient’s Eyes: the Dark Beginnings of Sherlock Holmes (2001) *** ½

Book # 1 with real life characters Arthur Conan Doyle and his mentor Dr. Bell, set in Scotland.

When Doyle begins his medical practice in Southsea, his former professor Dr. Bell comes to visit him. They both become interested in a strange case: a woman claims that when she is cycling through a road in the forest, someone mysterious cycles after her.

Next book: The Night Calls (2003)

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Bill Pronzini: Betrayers (2010) ***

Private investigator.

Book # 36 with the Nameless detective (Bill), San Francisco.

For the past few years, Bill runs his detective agency with two partners besides himself: Tamara, a young black woman and widower Jake. This book follows cases that each of them are working on – I found the book a little disjointed.
Jake stumbles across a murder plot where the so-called no-good brother is being framed for the murder of the “good” brother’s wife.
Tamara is looking into the background of a man she had brief relationship with.
Bill discovers his teenage daughter has cocaine in her room and is protecting someone.

Start with one of the many earlier books, e.g. The Snatch, The Vanished, Undercurrents, Blowback, Labyrinth, Hoodwink, Shattershot, Dragonfire, etc. . See the full series list here.

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Karin Slaughter: Faithless (2005) *** ½

Part American police procedural, part forensic.

Book # 5 with Dr. Sara Linton, pediatrician and coroner, and her ex-husband Jeffrey, the police chief of a small town in Georgia.

A teenage girl from a religious family is found dead, having been buried alive in a box. Lots of turmoil when police get a note that claims this wasn’t the only burial.
I like the fast pace and the personal relationships in this series.

First book: Blindsighted

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Sally Spencer: The Salton Killings (1998) ***

British police procedural.

Book # 1 with Charlie Woodend, detective chief inspector in a small city in England.

Scotland Yard detective Charlie Woodend is sent to deal with the murder of a teenage girl in a small northern town. The girl’s murder looks like it has elements in common with several previous murders in the community, but it’s hard for him to drag out information from the locals. It was interesting to read the first in the series after reading most of the others (Woodend ends up working as a police detective in a small English city).
The series reminds me of Ruth Rendell’s Inspector Wexford series.

Next book: Murder at Swann’s Lake # 2

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Betty Webb:
The Koala of Death: a Zoo mystery (2010) *** ½

Book # 2 with Teddy Bentley, a young woman who works as a zoo keeper at a small private California zoo.

The koala keeper is found dead in the water near Teddy’s houseboat. Teddy can't help but look into the murder, especially since the suspects include many of her co-workers.
I like the "zoo details" in this series, and the main character is quite appealing as well, constantly at odds with her socialite mother.

Try this series if you like Ann Littlewood’s mysteries with zookeeper Iris Oakley.

First book: The Anteater of Death

WHAT I'M READING NOW:
The Hunger Games
by Suzanne Collins

This is not a mystery. It could be called Science Fiction, set in a future North America. In the categories of Storyline, Pace and Tone, NoveList calls The Hunger Games Action-packed; Character-driven; Fast-paced; Bleak; Menacing; Suspenseful

Book # 1 of the Hunger Games trilogy

Summary: In a future North America, where the rulers of Panem maintain control through an annual televised survival competition pitting young people from each of the twelve districts against one another, sixteen-year-old Katniss's skills are put to the test when she voluntarily takes her younger sister's place.

Catching Fire # 2

Mockingjay # 3

Here's Mystery Fanfare's 2011 Christmas mystery list (up to the letter H, so far).

And here's a another extensive online list of Christmas mysteries:
Christmas Mystery Reading Ideas

These books aren't necessarily in the Saskatchewan Library system - type the title into the SILS catalogue to check.

One I read a couple years ago is on both of these lists:
The Fleet Street Murders by Charles Finch

Book # 3 with Charles Lenox, gentleman sleuth in 1860s London

Summary: Celebrating the 1866 holiday season at the side of his fiancé, amateur sleuth Charles Lenox is drawn into the double-homicide case of two reporters, an investigation that is complicated by a police ruling that the killings are unrelated. NoveList

First book: A Beautiful Blue Death

posted by Sharon

WHAT I'M READING NOW:
The Drop
by Michael Connelly

American police procedural

Book # 17 with Harry Bosch, a homicide detective in Los Angeles, California

Summary: LAPD detective Harry Bosch simultaneously investigates a killer who has been operating undetected for thirty years and a political conspiracy that has its origins in his police department.

First book: Black Echo

## Related post: MBTB review of Nine Dragons # 15

I had a good couple of days off. Finished my Christmas shopping and read three mysteries:

Carol K. Carr: India Black *** ½

Historical, set in 1876 London, England.

Book # 1 with India Black, a young madam running a brothel catering to gentlemen, in 1870s London, England

MBTB mini-review: Just what I was looking for on a cold winter day: a first-person narrative in a historical mystery, with lots of action. I like the character of India and how she throws herself into the impromptu spying job. The complex politics of the time is presented in an understandable way. It was a fun romp.

Here's what the Publisher's Weekly review had to say: Set in 1876, Carr's breezy, fast-paced debut introduces feisty India Black, who runs a London brothel catering to gentlemen, many of whom recognize the reference to the Tennyson poem in the brothel's name, Lotus House. When a patron turns up dead at Lotus House, India plots to dump the corpse elsewhere to preserve her business's reputation, but her efforts are interrupted by the shadowy Mr. French, who assumes responsibility for disposal of the body. In exchange, India agrees to go undercover at the behest of the prime minister himself, Benjamin Disraeli, to prevent highly sensitive documents that the victim was carrying from falling into the wrong hands. The dead man proves to have been Sir Archibald Latham, of the War Office, and the missing documents regard England's readiness to fight the Russians in the Balkans. Readers should be prepared for formulaic plot twists involving numerous escapes and gunfights.

Next book: India Black and the Widow of Windsor

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Barbara Cleverly:
Strange Images of Death ****

Historical, set in 1926 France/Police procedural

Book # 8 with Commander Joe Sandilands, a Scotland Yard detective, a World War I veteran

MBTB mini-review: This has all the elements I like in a historical mystery: interesting setting (a chateau in rural France transformed into an artists colony), great characters (Joe Sandilands, a top Scotland Yard detective with some horrific WWI experiences behind him; Joe's counterpart in France, the quirky Commissaire Jacquemin) and an intriguing mystery (a photographer's model murdered in the tiny chapel). To make it even better, it's a version of a locked room mystery - the chateau is so isolated, the murderer is very likely one of the residents.

I've liked this series from the first book (The Last Kashmiri Rose) and I love the first four especially, set in post-WWI India.

Here's what Publisher's Weekly review had to say:
/* Starred Review */ Set in 1926, Cleverly's excellent eighth mystery to feature British Cmdr. Joe Sandilands takes Sandilands to France, where Dorcas Joliffe, a precocious teenager who regards the Scotland Yarder as an honorary uncle, enlists his aid in finding her long-lost mother. Another inquiry, as the pair travel through Provence, soon takes precedence. When someone smashes a stone effigy to pieces in a medieval chapel, the steward in charge of the chapel ask Sandilands to help find the person responsible. This act of vandalism proves to be merely the prelude to the murder of Estelle Smeeth, an attractive young Englishwoman stabbed to death in the same chapel. Cleverly keeps the plot complex, but less convoluted than in Folly du Jour, returning to the form that made the first six in the series models of their kind. Golden age fans who appreciate deceptive storytelling enhanced by the kind of in-depth characterization lacking in Agatha Christie will be more than satisfied.

First book: The Last Kashmiri Rose

## Related post: MBTB review of Tug of War # 6

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William Kent Krueger:
Northwest Angle ****

Private investigator

Book # 11 with Cork O’Connor, a three-quarters Irish and one-quarter Ojibwe ex-sheriff in Aurora, Minnesota

MBTB mini-review: Good fast-paced stuff. Surviving a devasting storm in remote Lake of the Woods is just the beginning. Within hours, someone is shooting at Cork, his daughter Jenny and a small baby they found on the island they took shelter on.

Here's what the Booklist review had to say:
The eleventh novel starring ex-Chicago cop and longtime Minnesota private eye Cork O’Connor is part adventure, part mystery, and all knockout thriller. Krueger takes the catastrophic storm system known as a derecho, which swept hurricane-strength winds through northern Minnesota on July 3, 1999, as his catalyst. With O’Connor and his family still reeling from the disappearance and death of his wife two years before, he decides to make a stab at reuniting them and staunching some of the pain by orchestrating a houseboat vacation on a lake that borders Canada. The derecho hits, the family is scattered, and O’Connor and teen daughter Jenny find themselves on an uninhabited small island—uninhabited, that is, except for a lone infant. The infant’s mother is nearby, not killed by the storm but bound, tortured, and bludgeoned to death. O’Connor and Jenny soon learn that the killer is now stalking them. Catch-your-breath suspense throughout.

First book: Iron Lake

## Related post: MBTB review of Heaven's Keep # 9

WHAT I'M READING NOW:
Dead Connection
by Alafair Burke

American police procedural

Book # 1 with Ellie Hatcher, a detective for the NYPD in New York City

Summary: When two young women are murdered on the streets of New York, exactly one year apart, Detective Ellie Hatcher is called up for a special assignment on the homicide task force. The killer has left behind a clue connecting the two cases to First Date, a popular online dating service, and Flann McIlroy, an eccentric, publicity-seeking homicide detective, is convinced that only Ellie can help him pursue his terrifying theory: someone is using the lure of the Internet and the promise of love to launch a killing spree against the women of New York City. To catch the killer, Ellie must enter a high-tech world of stolen identities where no one is who they appear to be. . . .

This is one of two series written by Burke, author of the popular 2011 stand-alone Long Gone