cover image The Chessman

The Chessman

Jeffrey B. Burton. MacAdam/Cage, $25 (352p) ISBN 978-1-59692-370-6

Burton (Sleuth Slayer) delivers an outstanding serial killer thriller that will impress even seasoned practitioners of this subgenre. Three years earlier, Drew Cady left the FBI, damaged physically and mentally after pursuing a serial killer known as the Chessman, who inserted chess pieces into the fatal wounds of his victims. Now, a possible copycat killer has murdered Kenneth Gottlieb, the new SEC commissioner, in Washington, D.C., leaving in Gottlieb’s body a clear glass queen, “the same make that the Chessman utilized in the previous homicides.” Cady and the bureau were convinced at the time that they found the Chessman’s body, but what if he wasn’t dead? Cady must reinvestigate the original crimes to see what they might have missed the first time. The convolutions are both mind-boggling and well-conceived, and Burton excels at balancing scenes of action and pursuit with deduction. Whether or not Cady returns in another book, Burton has established himself as someone definitely to watch. (May)