cover image The Unresolved Seventh

The Unresolved Seventh

Richard Helms. Five Star, $25.95 (302p) ISBN 978-1-4328-2587-4

This standard-issue whodunit from Thriller Award–winner Helms (Thunder Moon) features an unusual hero: a forensic psychologist with Asperger’s syndrome. Ben Long, who used to work with a North Carolina prosecutor’s office, retired after an accused murderer killed Long’s mother and seriously wounded him four years earlier. Now a new district attorney, Sidney Kingsley, asks for Long’s help with a death penalty case. Kingsley wants Long to demonstrate that Earl Torrence, who looks as if “he was born to play Lenny in Of Mice and Men” and has confessed to fatally stabbing his brother’s girlfriend, is competent to stand trial. Aided by law clerk and obvious eventual love-interest Paula Paige, Long launches his own investigation into the crime, using tricks reminiscent of Perry Mason or Jessica Fletcher to try to exonerate the mentally impaired Torrence. Long comes across as more of a walking collection of symptoms than a real person. Agent: Tekno Books. (Apr.)