Unknown Means - Hardcover

Becka, Elizabeth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1401301754 ISBN 13: 9781401301750

Publisher: Hyperion, 2008

Synopsis

In Elizabeth Becka's latest highly suspenseful novel, forensic scientist Evelyn James returns to investigate a harrowing series of crimes--only to find that no one is safe.

Evelyn James is a forensic specialist in the Cleveland Medical Examiner's office who's juggling a demanding workload, a teenage daughter from a failed marriage, and a homicide detective boyfriend. And somehow she always happens to be involved in some of the twistiest, most challenging crime scenes imaginable.

This time around she's called in to investigate what appears to be a locked-room mystery: A wealthy woman is murdered in the penthouse suite of a luxurious, high-security building. The building's intricate surveillance system didn't pick up anything, the entrance wasn't forced, and the victim's husband has an airtight alibi. Cases like this, Evelyn knows, can turn on the most microscopic piece of evidence--if she can find any. Things look even trickier when another victim turns up in another penthouse suite. Then Evelyn's best friend is attacked--and things get personal. And when a third person is found dead, Evelyn realizes that the killer's choice of victim is anything but random . . .

About this title

About the Author

Elizabeth Becka is a forensic specialist working with the Cape Coral, Florida, police department. Formerly with the Coroner's Office of Cleveland, Ohio, she has lectured to students and officers, has testified as an expert witness forty times, and is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Scientists.

Reviews

Forensic scientist Evelyn James of the Cleveland Medical Examiner's office returns for this welcome second novel, following Becka's debut, Trace Evidence. Single mother Evelyn must manage her relationship with her sullen teenage daughter, her sputtering romance with homicide detective David Milaski and the demands of a job she loves. As the book opens, a wealthy woman is found murdered in a locked apartment; soon, Evelyn's friend and colleague Marissa Gonzalez, who lives in the same high-security building as the murdered woman, is attacked twice, and another woman is murdered elsewhere. Evelyn works with Milaski and his partner, Bruce Riley, to find the connection among the victims. In addition, claustrophobic Evelyn must collect trace evidence following a salt mine explosion under Lake Erie. Becka, a Cape Coral, Fla., forensic scientist formerly with the Cleveland coroner's office, keeps the details of this gripping procedural vivid all the way up to the harrowing finale. Fans of Patricia Cornwell's prickly Kay Scarpetta will find Evelyn a complementary contrast. (Feb.)
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Called to the scene of the rape-murder of a wealthy, pregnant woman,  Evelyn James, a forensic expert who first appeared in Trace Evidence (2005), is faced with a grisly locked-room crime. Before she has a chance to make sense of the case, her best friend and coworker is attacked in the very same high-security building, then again in the hospital, as Evie, exhausted, sleeps at her bedside. Although trace evidence finally ties six previous attacks to the recent crimes, Evie still can’t help but wonder if the new victims weren’t simply chosen by chance. Becka, whose own speciality is forensics, knows exactly when to switch from what Evie observes with her microscope to straight-ahead action. She also gives readers plenty of personal dynamics, as Evie’s relationships with homicide cop David Milaski and with her 17-year-old daughter, Angel, both enter a new and different phase. Readers unfamiliar with the first book won’t get all the background references, but there’s enough drama and mystery here to let the story stand pretty well on its own. --Stephanie Zvirin

Edition details

• Publisher: Hyperion
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1401301754
• ISBN 13: 9781401301750
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336