David Rosenfelt, Bury the Lead

Bury the Lead

David Rosenfelt

Mysterious Press, June 2004, $24.00, 261 pp.

ISBN 08929678270

The women in North Jersey are panicking because a serial killer is on the loose, a sociopath who strangles women from behind with a scarf and then cuts off their heads. His victims have been an elderly grandmother, a prostitute and a businesswoman. A reporter on Patterson's local newspaper Daniel Cumming is the only person who the killer communicates with and he has become a part of the story as much as he reports it.

Daniel's editor, Vince Sanders, is overjoyed because the circulation of the paper is rising at a fantastic rate but something is bothering him so he calls lawyer Andy Carpenter to represent the paper and Daniel. When the killer informs Daniel where to find the next victim, he races to the area but he gets hit on the head and loses consciousness. When he awakens the police treat him like a suspect and after they find two hands and scarves with blood on it, they arrest Daniel. Vince begs Andy to represent his reporter and he acquiesces even though he isn't sure Daniel is innocent.

There are many surprising twists in this exciting legal thriller which the author handles with panache and a sense of stark realism. The characters are off beat originals especially the protagonist who has inherited $22 million dollars yet his idea of a good time is spending a day watching football, playing with his dog and having fun with his significant other. He is a high profile lawyer who usually wins cases but this one means calling in favors. The ending is a surprise that readers will think about for a long time.

Harriet Klausner