Killing Jane: An Erin Prince Thriller

Erin Prince, the heroine of this so-so series launch from Green (the Lucy Kendall series), is an unlikely Washington, D.C., police investigator, whose father, a wealthy and influential defense contractor, counts the three most recent Republican presidents as personal friends. Erin rebelled against her privileged upbringing by marrying a man who “turned out to be a kleptomaniac with a juvenile record.” She’s now faced with her greatest challenge as a cop. Someone has slaughtered Bonnie Archer, a student at an adult-learning center, in a manner reminiscent of the Whitechapel murders of Jack the Ripper. In the attic room where Bonnie’s mangled body lies, the killer gouged “Buck’s Row” in blood-stained letters into a beam. Buck’s Row was the site of the Ripper’s first killing. The discovery of a document purporting to be the Ripper’s diary provides another link to the historic unsolved crimes, but Green adds nothing new to the Jack the Ripper copycat idea. Readers should be prepared for some awkward prose (“Malek’s full mouth slanted up, but his tone stayed firm”). (Jan.)

This review has been updated to reflect a change in text quoted from the book.