William Bernhardt: Strip Search

Dark and deadly*** November 25, 2007

This latest novel by William Bernhardt is a welcome diversion from his limping Ben Kincaid series. This features psychologist Susan Pulaski who is badly in need of psychological assistance herself. Formerly employed by the Las Vegas police dept she is now serving as a consultant but her status is tenuous at best. The novel is littered with corpses who are being methodically slaughtered by a serial killer. At first there are no obvious similarities among the victims but as the plot unfolds it becomes apparent that they have a common thread: they have abandoned children earlier in their careers. While the murders are carried out by a thug, only in the last stages does Susan realize that his strings are being pulled by a master puppeteer whose identity is quite surprising.

A fast read.

With No One As Witness: a novel by Elizabeth George

First-rate***** May 9, 2007

Another in the Lynley/Havers mysteries set in the U.K. George is leagues above the pablum generated by James Patterson and his ilk. She constructs a well-plotted novel. One of her strengths is characterization. Her characters are fully fleshed out and well-developed. This novel involves racial tensions and a backdrop of the seedy lives led by adolescents in the backstreets of London. Apart from that, it is also a cracker-jack police procedural.