Death in Profile

DCI Tom Allen and DI Bob Metcalfe are investigating the death of a woman.  Her husband had reported her missing.  Her death is similar to ones done by a serial killer they’ve been hunting for some time now.  The current victim is number five.

That evening Allen is taken off the case.  Detective Superintendent Simon Collison tells him it is to allow him leave and to bring his own fresh eyes to the case.  Allen doesn’t want to be taken off the case and plans on working on it on his own.  He asks Metcalfe to help him, but he declines.

DC Karen Willis suggests bringing in a profiler.  She also has someone in mind; her boyfriend, Dr. Peter Collins.  On the weekend, Allen provides Metcalfe with the name of the taxi driver who had transported the latest victim.  It was something he wasn’t supposed to do, nor was he supposed to meet with Metcalfe.  Allen also knows that a profiler has been brought in.  Who on the team could have given him that information?

At last they have a suspect in hand, and he fits the profile suggested by Dr. Collins.  However, all the evidence is circumstantial.  Allen tells Metcalfe that he is convinced that they have the wrong man.  It doesn’t take the jury long to convict.  Unfortunately shortly after entering prison the man is killed.

At the same time Allen has found evidence that the dead man couldn’t have been the killer.  When Dr. Collins finds out about this, he goes off the rails.  Meantime Collison has to start anew on the investigation.  Will they get the right person this time?

Author Guy Fraser-Sampson captures the reader’s interest immediately in the opening pages and holds it throughout.  I found this book hard to put down.  As a matter of fact, I read it in one, so engrossed in I was.  Highly recommended read.  I can’t wait to get my hands on the sequels.