Shifting Skin

"The Butcher of Belle Vue" has struck again. Like the first two victims, the third has been partially skinned, her muscles, tendons, and ligaments exposed to view. But this time her face has also been removed. Jon Spicer and his new partner, Rick Saville, are on the investigating team. The case is waiting for its first breakthrough when a woman approaches Jon insisting that she heard the Butcher claim his third victim in the room of a run-down hotel in Belle Vue. All she has to back up her story is a business card found in the room from a local escort agency with a name scribbled on the back. Jon's investigation takes him into the world of Manchester's escort agencies and the unscrupulous cosmetic surgery industry, and brings him face-to-face with the human propensity for violence.

Chris Simms is a freelance copywriter, and his previous works include Outside the White Lines and Pecking Order.