Cold Kill: A Detective Stella Mooney Novel - Hardcover

Lawrence, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312347413 ISBN 13: 9780312347413

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2006

Synopsis

"Fans of the PBS series Prime Suspect or of hot Scottish writer Ian Rankin shouldn't wait to check out this mystery...[it] will surely be one of the best mysteries of the summer, probably of the year."

- Rocky Mountain News on The Dead Sit Round in a Ring

 

Cold Kill, David Lawrence's third book in the highly acclaimed Detective Stella Mooney series, finds the memorable Stella at a crime scene in a wintry London park.

 

The brutalized corpse of a young woman has just been discovered. When Robert Kimber walks into a Notting Hill police station and confesses to the murder, it's an open-and-shut case--just what the police want this close to Christmas. But Stella has her doubts. And if their suspect didn't commit the murder, who did? Someone without a conscience. Someone who will tap into Kimber's disturbed mind. Someone who needs an apprentice for the dark business he has planned....

About this title

About the Author

David Lawrence, in addition to being a talented novelist, is also an acclaimed poet and highly successful scriptwriter. Cold Kill is his third novel in the Detective Stella Mooney series--his previous titles, The Dead Sit Round in a Ring and Nothing Like the Night, have received widespread rave reviews. The author lives in southwest London and is hard at work on the next book in the series, which Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Minotaur will publish next year.

From the Back Cover

Praise for David Lawrence

 

"Excellent series. Lawrence deserves the same acclaim American mystery readers have heaped on Ian Rankin and Ken Bruen. This is crime writing of the highest caliber."

- Rocky Mountain News on Nothing Like the Night

 

"Rough dialogue, intricate plotting, and cascading suspense...Readers are sure to want to see more of the memorable Stella."

- Publishers Weekly (starred review) on The Dead Sit Round in a Ring

 

"There's isn't a single false note in this striking debut that earns pride of place deep in the darkest circle of noir, down past Ian Rankin and John Harvey to the shadows where lurk Ken Bruen and Derek Raymond."

- Booklist (starred review) on The Dead Sit Round in a Ring

 

"Lawrence, a published poet, writes with delicacy and restraint rare in the genre....that's a voice you want to hear again."

- Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review on The Dead Sit Round in a Ring

 

"With John Harvey's Charlie Resnick out to pasture and Ian Rankin's John Rebus getting a bit too big for his britches, where are the tough new Brit coppers coming from? Try this highly touted first mystery."

- Chicago Tribune on The Dead Sit Round in a Ring

From the Inside Flap

"Fans of the PBS series Prime Suspect or of hot Scottish writer Ian Rankin shouldn't wait to check out this mystery...[it] will surely be one of the best mysteries of the summer, probably of the year."

- Rocky Mountain News on The Dead Sit Round in a Ring

 

Cold Kill, David Lawrence's third book in the highly acclaimed Detective Stella Mooney series, finds the memorable Stella at a crime scene in a wintry London park.

 

The brutalized corpse of a young woman has just been discovered. When Robert Kimber walks into a Notting Hill police station and confesses to the murder, it's an open-and-shut case--just what the police want this close to Christmas. But Stella has her doubts. And if their suspect didn't commit the murder, who did? Someone without a conscience. Someone who will tap into Kimber's disturbed mind. Someone who needs an apprentice for the dark business he has planned....

Reviews

British author Lawrence's third police procedural to feature Det. Stella Mooney (after 2005's Nothing Like the Night) offers some new wrinkles on the serial killer theme. Mooney, an attractive and fearless officer who wrestles with the psychological aftermath of having taken a life in self-defense, is rapidly immersed in the search for a brutal murderer victimizing young London women. The probe apparently catches an early break when Robert Kimber walks into a police station and confesses to the latest crime, but his vagueness about details and the absence of forensic evidence force Mooney to authorize his release. More deaths follow, leading to some major second-guessing of that decision. Lawrence's crisp writing and memorable characters make this an absorbing read, even if the coincidences toward the end are piled on a little high. The author displays enough talent to attract nonprocedural fans, and his deft touch at occasional gallows humor helps this novel to stand out from the pack. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

It's Christmastime in London, and the midwinter doesn't get much bleaker than in the stark pages of DS Stella Mooney's third case, as random women are being hammered in the head, partially stripped, and garroted. The squad gets the perfect gift when a creepy confessor who knows too much drops in their lap, but Robert Kimber turns out to be a serial killer-wannabe who stalks and photographs his unsuspecting victims but seems to go no further than stealing locks of hair. Conflicting DNA evidence suggests two or more perps at work, but is there honor among serial killers? Unable to escape her brutal childhood neighborhood, the bruised and battered Mooney must endure more salt on her wounds when her journalist lover runs afoul of the investigation. There are some unnecessarily tidy coincidences in the swift, convoluted plot, but Lawrence excels in creating a relentlessly grim pressure-cooker of a city with some of the meanest streets in the business. An elegiac entry for noir fans who favor Ken Bruen, Mo Hayder, or James Ellroy. David Wright
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312347413
• ISBN 13: 9780312347413
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 448