Copycat

"I won't talk to anyone else — only you. Another child, another sweet girl will die. You can stop it, Kitt. Don't you want to stop it?"

Five years ago, three young victims were found dead, posed like little angels. There were no witnesses. Strangely clean scenes. The Sleeping Angel Killer called his despicable acts "the perfect crimes."

The case immobilized the close-knit community of Rockford, Illinois, and nearly destroyed homicide detective Kitt Lundgren's career — and her life. During the investigation, Kitt tragically lost her own child to illness. She was overwhelmed by the death of her daughter, and the final blow was the crushing realization that she let the killer get away.

Now the Sleeping Angel Killer is back.

Familiar with every nuance of the cold-case file, Kitt knows there's something different about this new rash of killings — a tiny variation that opens terrifying new possibilities. Is the Sleeping Angel Killer really back, or is a copycat killer re-creating the original "perfect crimes"?

But Kitt has no authority in this investigation. Young, ambitious detective Mary Catherine Riggio is heading up the Sleeping Angel Killer case. M.C. knows that Kitt wants back in and she's smart enough to realize that Kitt's obsession with the case has given the detective an insight that M.C. lacks. But M.C., intent on proving herself, fears Kitt will blow the investigation — again.

Then Kitt starts receiving disturbing phone calls. It's him — the Sleeping Angel Killer — and he makes Kitt an unthinkable offer: help in finding his copycat. Forced to rely on each other, Kitt and M.C. must decide whether to place their trust in a murderer...or risk becoming victims of a fiend who has taken the art of the perfect murder to horrific new heights.

Bestselling author Erica Spindler stakes her claim as one of today's best thriller writers with this chilling story that explores our deepest fears and the power of one woman to triumph over her demons.

Erica Spindler's bestselling novels include Killer Takes All, See Jane Die, In Silence, Dead Run, Bone Cold, All Fall Down and Cause for Alarm. She lives in the New Orleans area with her husband, an advertising executive, and their two sons.