Shirley Kennett Time of Death

Time of Death

Shirley Kennett

Five Star, Dec 2005, $25.95, 367 pp.

ISBN: 1594143099

In St. Louis psychologist Dr. Penelope Jennifer "PJ" Gray never expected to be involved with the police as she is now, but her Computer Homicide Investigation Program (CHIP) has proven so successful, she is an adjunct on murder inquiries. The single mom of a teen, PJ provides virtual reality forensics to crime scenes and is seeing on and off her partner homicide detective Leo Schultz, who recently has been sarcastic with her.

Their current case involves the brutal Metro Mangler as they dub him who abuses his or her victim, the latest being realtor Arlen Merritt, whose penis was removed. The spouse seems odd in how she grieves her loss, but does not appear to have been the killer especially since she would need a lot more bulk to move the body as it was done. Another killing with much of the trademark of the Mangler occurs, but with major differences especially the cold precision without the heated frenzy of the Merritt murder. While Leo thinks two culprits are committing the crimes, PJ wonders if there is one clever murderer disguising the real motive with two disparate homicides.

TIME OF DEATH, the latest PJ Gray police procedural (see GRAY MATTER), is an interesting homicide investigative tale starring a fully developed team including the lead couple struggling with a difficult case made more complex with a second murderer. The story line moves mostly along the investigative track, but is brilliantly supplemented with the seemingly dysfunctional relationship between PJ and Leo as seen totally from her perspective. Though the heroine provides plenty of interesting observations, the use of CHIP is limited so that the forensic virtual reality program takes a back seat to old fashion sleuthing.

Harriet Klausner