Splinter in the Blood

Starred review from April 9, 2018
At the start of the enthralling debut from Dyer (the pen name for two British authorities on crime), Det. Sgt. Ruth Lake holds the gun that just shot her partner, Det. Chief Insp. Greg Carver, who’s been pursuing the Thorn Killer. Greg is slumped on the sitting room floor of his Liverpool house and, amazingly, alive. Before calling in the shooting, Ruth wipes all surfaces she touched and stashes in her car the box of evidence on the Thorn Killer, who has been terrorizing the city using poison-drenched thorns to kill his victims. When Greg wakes up in the hospital, he can’t remember anything that happened on the day he was shot, but he’s sure that his shooting is a warning not to get too close to the killer. While Greg recuperates in the hospital, Ruth, a former crime scene investigator, clandestinely pursues the Thorn Killer. But Ruth is harboring a dark secret that she’ll do almost anything to keep hidden. The skillfully constructed plot complements the intriguing characters, including a deliciously creepy killer who lurks in the background. Dyer is definitely a crime writer to watch. Agent: Jennifer Joel, ICM.

May 1, 2018
DCI Greg Carver is leading the hunt for a serial killer who leaves intricate tattoos on victims' bodies, but the investigation is thrown into turmoil when Carver is shot in his own home.Five women. Five bodies full of increasingly elaborate tattoo art made with a thorn instead of a needle. Liverpool DCI Carver has been leading the Thorn Killer investigation team, until he's found shot by his partner, the inscrutable DS Ruth Lake. It seems extremely suspicious that a police officer would come upon a crime scene, take the murder weapon and her partner's secret notes on the case, and wipe the scene down for prints, all before calling for help. But it appears that Lake has a motive for everything, squeaky clean or not. With Carver laid up in the hospital and Lake told to stay away from the investigation into his shooting, being a semiwitness and all, she dives back into the Thorn Killer inquiry, focusing on the last victim, theater student Kara Grogan, a young woman who bore a striking resemblance to Carver's estranged wife. As Lake dips her toe into the often vicious world of amateur theater, Carver fights his own battles at the hospital, trying to remember the events that put him there and whether the Thorn Killer is responsible. Interludes from the killer, while commonplace in crime fiction, are an unneeded crutch here but don't slow the momentum.With complicated leads and a ruthless killer whose method is barbaric enough to be frightening without shading into the grotesque, this is a debut worthy of sequels.

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Starred review from June 1, 2018

The Thorn Killer is a serial murderer who, before killing five victims, methodically tattooed them with ancient symbols of plants and eyes. Forensic analysis reveals that the tattoos were created by using a variety of thorns, especially the deadly Pyracantha, with inks containing botanical poisons that seep into the victims' blood. Obvious links among the dead are tenuous. Senior detective Greg Carver has slipped into obsession over the case, exacerbated by heavy drinking. When yet another body turns up, it is unclear whether she was a victim of the Thorn Killer or Carver. So why, when Carver's sergeant, Ruth Lake, finds her boss at home, shot and dying, does she clean up the crime scene and remove vital evidence? In this debut by Dyer (the new writing partnership of CWA Dagger Award-winning writer Margaret Murphy and Helen Pepper, a senior lecturer in policing), nothing is as it seems, and the landscape is littered with secrets. VERDICT Superbly written characters, imaginative dialog, and a convincing plot will captivate suspense fans, especially aficionados of Val McDermid and Ann Cleeves, leaving readers hoping to meet Carver and Lake again in the future. [See Prepub Alert, 12/11/17.]--Penelope J.M. Klein, Fayetteville, NY

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2018

Why does Det. Greg Carver's colleague scrub away evidence when Greg is shot at home, likely by a serial killer he's investigating? A debut from Margaret Murphy, a CWA Short Story Dagger winner, and policing lecturer Helen Pepper.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.