The Cutting Room

Writing as Dyer, former CWA chair Margaret Murphy and forensic expert Helen Pepper bring back detectives Ruth Lake and Greg Carver from their first effort, LJ-starred Splinter in the Blood. Here, a fiendish serial killer treats the crime scene as an art installation. With a 60,000-copy first printing.

April 15, 2019
This addictive sequel to 2018’s Splinter in the Blood from British author Dyer (the pen name of Margaret Murphy and Helen Pepper) puts Liverpool Det. Chief Insp. Greg Carver and Det. Sgt. Ruth Lake on the trail of the Ferryman, a serial killer believed responsible for the disappearances of as many as 12 men over half a year. Soon after Mick Tennent, the host of a TV show called Fact or Fable?, airs a program on the missing men, he himself vanishes, and police receive an email stating that the “Ferryman is no fable.” The case takes a macabre turn when a message from the killer directs the police to what appears to be an art installation attached to scaffolding in front of a commercial building; the installation includes sections of three human brains, each within a disk of Plexiglas. This gruesome display gains the Ferryman a legion of followers on social media, some of whom work to stymie the official inquiry. Chapters narrated by the Ferryman heighten the suspense. Though the plot, complete with Carver and Lake keeping secrets from each other, is nothing new, the material is fresh enough to keep readers turning the pages. Fans of British police procedurals will be well satisfied. Agent: Jennifer Joel, ICM.

April 15, 2019
In the follow-up to Splinter in the Blood (2018), Liverpool detectives Greg Carver and Ruth Lake are on the trail of a new killer who seeks an audience for his bloody masterpieces. DCI Greg Carver and DS Ruth Lake are each still experiencing the aftereffects of previous traumas. Carver sees auras, resulting from a head injury and a gunshot that nearly killed him, and Lake bears invisible scars of her own. Any thoughts of Carver taking it easy fall by the wayside when they're called to an unusual scene: Sections of human brains have been encased in plexiglass and displayed in a public place for all to see. Turns out the brain sections belong to men who have recently gone missing, including the host of a popular reality show called Fact or Fable? Lake, who never forgets a face, dives headlong into the case with her usual hyperfocus. She'll need it, because the killer, dubbed The Ferryman, considers himself an artist, albeit one who paints in shades of blood red. He's building a massive social media following, and ghoulish groupies bearing his logo roam the streets, complicating the investigation. Lake is thrown into a tailspin when evidence leads directly to her estranged brother, Adam. Can Carver and Lake catch a killer before he completes his final, fatal masterpiece? Dyer (the writing duo of Margaret Murphy and Helen Pepper) keeps the twists coming while sprinkling in a few clever red herrings, and Carver and Lake are an effective and symbiotic detecting duo. Thankfully brief passages by the killer are interspersed throughout. Fans of intricate procedurals who like things gritty and gruesome will find a lot to love.

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

May 1, 2019
Subject to sudden paralysis and overly sensitized by the brain injury suffered in Splinter in the Blood (2018), Detective Greg Carver is back on the job, and his partner, Ruth Lake, is covering for his shortcomings while healing from her own wounds. In six months, 12 twentysomething Liverpool men have simply vanished, and the city is obsessed with a hoodie-clad figure they call the Ferryman, who has an Instagram account that is trending big time. Digital invitations lead the team to a series of horrifying crime scenes. The missing men have fallen prey to a sadistic killer who stages their body parts within exhibitions as art, along with various recordings of their deaths. In a riveting investigation, a true-crime-crazed public creates a new folk hero and helps him avoid capture. Dyer is the pen name of UK crime writer Margaret Murphy and forensic scientist Helen Pepper, who provide a grimly authentic narrative and deeply defined characters, although the ending may make readers wonder if they really know Ruth at all.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)