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A Jack the Ripper copycat killer plies his evil in… Des Moines, Iowa? The story begins in modern-day London, though, when Albert Tomlinson, a history professor passionate about the Victorian Era and Jack the Ripper, leaves his four-generation family home in Whitechapel, London, to start a new life teaching history at the University of Iowa in Des Moines. Ever-gawking tourists in Whitechapel, site of the Ripper's first murder, have become tiresome and disturb the peace needed for Tomlinson to pen a book about England's glorious past. Little does he know that a Jack the Ripper copycat killer is alive and well in his new hometown.
At the Des Moines Police Department, Detective Brett O'Shea and his partner, Kevin Donnellson, are blithely unaware of the Jack the Ripper connection as they concentrate on the cold-case death of a young coed at the university. Killed by a late-night fall from the third-floor window of the history department, the very floor where Tomlinson teaches, her death casts suspicion on Tomlinson and several others.
Walters quickly and tightly cinches the plot, and just as swiftly shows her skill at building instant camaraderie among her characters through a dialogue-driven narrative. O'Shea is a volatile, irreverent Irish cop with a steady girlfriend and a touch of the fairies: he is psychic. Donnellson is a smooth, hunky, Mustang-driving, hair-obsessed ladies' man, and a straight shooter. Both are dedicated to justice. Marge, the true-blue, silver-haired, wise-cracking, tender-hearted, long-tenured secretary, keeps the two detectives and their boss in line while righting the departmental ship as it tosses about in the subsequent sea of murders. Lisa is Detective O'Shea's soulmate, a journalist dedicated to her craft and to keeping O'Shea centered. The easy camaraderie and emotional connections smooth a complicated plot as suspects, victims, and villains mount chapter by chapter. The path is set for an enjoyable murder-mystery read.
Soon, Walters inserts a supernatural wild card, which will be no surprise for readers of the first four books in Walters' series. Fans will cheer when familiar character Dragos the vampire appears, on loan from Scotland Yard, and new readers will soon be hooked. Dragos is married to O'Shea's childhood friend Candy, and his detecting skills are as good as they get. It doesn't hurt that the 192-year-old Dragos was a police detective in London during Jack the Ripper's reign of terror and possesses unique knowledge of Jack's crimes. Another wild card is the removal of a character: O'Shea's ghostly partner, Michael, who was vital to O'Shea's crime-solving success. Michael, the spirit of O'Shea's great-great-grandfather and a former cop, is not allowed to "help" anymore. O'Shea is on his own. The stakes keep rising as murders pile up and O'Shea is reduced to analyzing precognitive dreams to both solve and perhaps prevent murders.
Walters, an Iowa native, has become a mistress of the paranormal thriller, with six books and three movies to her credit. Writing about police work also comes naturally to her from years of listening to stories about her son, husband, and great-grandfather, all Des Moines police officers. The juxtaposition of a friendly Midwestern city with the unexpected awe of the paranormal lends a realistic tint to what might otherwise be unbelievable. The casual tone and easy humor among the main characters counterbalance the premeditated, carefully planned nature of the murders. Vampires and ghosts tip the story toward the supernatural, but the suspects, red herrings, and ancillary characters keep the adventure grounded in the "simply" paranormal realm.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review