Tuesday, February 23, 2010

The Night Killer-Beverly Connor

The Night Killer
Beverly Connor
Obsidian, Apr 6 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780451229601

After visiting Roy and Ozella Barre who donating their arrowhead collection to the museum; Forensic investigator and museum curator Diane Fallon is driving down a winding mountain road on a dark and stormy night. Lightning strikes a tree, which falls onto her vehicle; a skull falls from the tree through her windshield. A man asks her if she is okay; when she mentions the skull, he grabs her.

Diane breaks free of him and flees trying to return to the Barre home while the stranger releases his dogs. However Diane reaches their home only to find both dead. She owes her life to a stranger who got the dogs off her scent. Diane informs the local sheriff what happened including facts about her rescuer. She has doubts the sheriff can solve the case and another couple is discovered murdered in the same brutal manner as the Barrres were. Frank, the stranger who saved her life, is a private investigator hired to find a missing girl and her boyfriend. Against all advice to the contrary, Diane investigates, but a killer stalks her.

Fans who enjoy the forensic cases of Kat Scarpetta and Temperance Brennan will want to read the Diane Fallon mysteries. The protagonist holds three jobs, but does each one quite well. Loaded with non-stop action, viable suspects and an incredibly deep atmosphere of danger, The Night Killer is a strong entertaining whodunit.

Harriet Klausner

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