Something Evil Comes

In British author Cross’s engrossing fourth mystery featuring forensic psychologist Kate Hanson (after A Little Death), Kate, who consults for the city of Birmingham’s Unsolved Crime Unit, looks into the murder of 20-year-old Matthew Flynn, who went missing a year earlier. An examination of the remains, which were found in the crypt of an isolated church, reveals that the young man’s throat was ripped out. Interviews with his friends, family, and colleagues suggest that Matthew was a pleasant, kind, and dependable person. Why, then, was he so gruesomely murdered? For Kate, why is always the most important question. Why was there no blood on the victim’s scarf? Why did his parents not know he had a tattoo? Kate is a fully realized character who’s a pleasure to observe. Cross, herself a forensic psychologist, provides an intriguing fair-play puzzle, with an abundant set of plausible suspects and possible motives—sex, drugs, money, and jealousy, to name a few. This is a highly satisfying mystery. Agent: Camilla Wray, Darley Anderson Literary, TV and Film Agency (U.K.). (Dec.)