The Deepest Cut

December 15, 2008
Pasadena police detective Nan Vining once again confronts her “personal bad man,” the serial killer known as T.B. Mann, who's been stalking her and murdering California policewomen for years, in the sharp conclusion to Emley's romantic suspense trilogy (after Cut to the Quick
). Encouraged by her lover and Pasadena PD partner, Det. Jim Kissick, Nan's determined to catch T.B., though she's barely recovered from being stabbed by the psycho a year earlier. An alarming new twist—a cryptic message T.B. leaves at a crime scene where a former NLK (Northside Latin Kings) gang member, Scrappy Espinoza, was fatally shot—leads Nan to pursue an Asian gang connection. The stress builds as Emily's budding relationship with Ken Zhang, the 17-year-old son of the owner of the building where Scrappy was killed, complicates the investigation. Lucid prose and an ending that leaves the door open for further Vining exploits more than make up for the familiar serial-killer plot line.

Fans of Nan Vining will rejoice in the Pasadena detective's return in the conclusion of Emley's trilogy. Vining is now hunting down T.B. Mann ("The Bad Mann"), a psychotic serial killer who left her for dead earlier in the series and is now engaging her in a bloody game of cat-and-mouse. Carrington MacDuffie's resonant voice enhances this crisp narrative. However, her frequently lethargic intonation slows down the story, and her proclivity for ending sentences of dialogue as questions become tedious. However, true followers of Detective Vining and Detective Jim Kissick should be able to overlook these tendencies and enjoy the novel with its nail-biting conclusion. A.R.H. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine