David Lawrence, Nothing like the Night

David Lawrence, Nothing like the Night - Suffering from nightmares of dead babies, Detective Sergeant Stella Mooney gets the call late at night waking up her live in lover George Paterson. Stella quickly heads to West Kensington to look over the crime scene of a murdered woman. In Notting Hill Gate, Stella learns that someone murdered Janis Parker apparently over a week ago; the body was found when the downstairs neighbor felt bodily excretions leaking on him from his ceiling. Stella notices the overwhelming odor before seeing the cut up corpse that means a frenzied crime of passion or a killer toying with their victim.

Janis' roommate Stephanie James is missing so Stella wonders if she is dead too. At Imago Magazine where Janis worked, Stella learns that Stephanie's boyfriend Mark Ross took a too-drunk Janis home from a party last week, making him the prime suspect. However, when they find Mark dead with cuts and abrasions all over his body, Stella and her team know they are confronted with a deadly killer who seems to take immense pleasure with playing with his mice.

This interesting, British, police procedural will grip the audience due to its terrific protagonist struggling with a nasty case and even nastier dreams from previous cases. The investigation is methodically conducted so that the audience follows the police as they sift for clues. Stella's personal life adds depth to her personality, including inner turmoil and disturbances that would bring down a lesser person yet impacts her official inquiries. Sub-genre fans will appreciate this exceptional tale and want to read the eerie THE DEAD SIT AROUND IN A RING, David Lawrence's previous work.

Dunne, Jun 2005, $24.95

ISBN: 031232880X

Harriet Klausner