"Strong Scottish police procedural"
Just back from his vacation, Crowley DCI Frank Jacobsen
uses every excuse to avoid the paperwork that has piled up
while he was away. So though he loathes that the Crowley
Crawler has been paroled and returning to the town where he
raped numerous women, Frank uses Robert Johnson as a
legitimate pretext to escape his office work. Led by
Frank, the police place Robert under surveillance not only
to keep their women safe, but also to insure the victims or
their families do not enact vengeance. A second event occurs when the postal carrier discovers the
corpse of Jenny Mortimer, who was leaving her husband Gus
for her lover. The police think Gus killed his spouse, but
soon revise that theory when they find him dead too. When
Johnson eludes his tail, most townsfolk including the
police conclude he killed the Mortimers, but Frank thinks
otherwise. He believes the two cases are separate with an
unknown killer to methodically uncover and to decide which
victim or family member abducted Johnson. The second DCI Jacobsen police procedural, MAKING A
KILLING, is an intriguing Scottish investigative tale that
provides readers with a discerning look into the department
coping with two high publicity cases that may
interconnect. The story line is gritty due to the
homicides and the reputation of the Crawler, but it is
Frank who turns the novel into a powerhouse as he carries
out the plot. The secondary cast rounds out the edges, but
the strong lead protagonist endears the reader from the
moment he sneaks out the back door for a pint. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted October 3, 2002
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