The Doll Maker

February 23, 2015
Montanari’s compelling eighth crime novel featuring Philadelphia police detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano (after 2014’s The Stolen Ones) opens with the particularly gruesome murder of a prostitute that some readers may find off-putting. After this scene, the book turns into a detailed police procedural, as Byrne and Balzano’s investigation leads them from one killing to an ever more complex series of grotesque crimes and a baffling array of questions. Why is a doll left at the scene of each execution? What is the connection among the victims? The plot goes down an astonishing number of byways, including the history and technology of doll making, the psychology of collectors, and the covert meanings of popular songs. Montanari creates a large cast of believable, moving characters, men and women with families, needs, and histories. The workings of the Philadelphia PD are as detailed and convincing as those of Isola in an Ed McBain novel, in which the city itself becomes a virtual character. Agent: Jane Berkey, Jane Rotrosen Agency.

April 1, 2015
Mr. Marseille and Annabelle are young, good-looking, beautifully dressed, and exceedingly polite murderers. We meet them when they kill a teenage girl, pose her in macabre fashion on a freshly painted bench, and leave her with an invitation to a tea dance. Philadelphia homicide detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano are assigned the case. On the day of the tea dance, two more bodies are found, this time with another invitation to a tea dance, along with a doll that is an exact replica of the first victim; things get progressively darker from there. More bodies and more dolls keep Byrne and Balzano following a path that takes them tantalizingly close, yet the twists and turns keep coming as they are thwarted by this young couple time and again. The relationships here are interesting; Marseille and Annabelle are an enigma, which is nicely juxtaposed by the relationship between the detectives, who have worked together so long that they can practically read each other's thoughts. Longtime fans of the series will not be disappointed, nor will readers who favor thrillers with a high creepiness quotient.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)