The Ice Maiden: A Novel - Hardcover

Buchanan, Edna

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0380973324 ISBN 13: 9780380973323

Publisher: William Morrow, 2002

Synopsis

A chance encounter with a stranger changes the life of reporter Britt Montero forever. The encounter is at Miami's morgue, where the unidentified stranger lies dead. His unusual old scars capture her curiosity-the dead man clearly had a tale to tell. This thief, who was accidentally electrocuted, may be the key that unlocks the long-sought secrets of a sensational cold murder mystery unsolved for more than fourteen years.

Sunny and Ricky, teenagers on a Christmas Eve first date, were abducted, a shocking crime that was never solved despite a gigantic manhunt, a huge reward, and an outraged community. Frustrated police called the lack of leads eerie. Unnatural. Against all the laws of homicide and human nature. Now Britt wants the story, and she isn't the only one seeking answers.

Sunny survived, the lone witness to that terrible night so long ago. But the reclusive Ice Maiden, now an artist and sculptor estranged from her wealthy family, is not talking and the killer's trail vanished long ago, like footprints in melting snow.

Cold Case Squad Sargeant Craig Burch wants the killer. But as the Miami News reporter and the veteran homicide cop investigate the old outrage, they learn that sometimes the cost of justice is too high.

When you start to turn over rocks, something ugly sometimes slithers out. Monstrous evil from the past emerges to overtake a whole new generation of innocent victims as deadly passions are reawakened and mortal fears resurface.

For Burch, whose elite unit breathes new life into cold murder cases, the investigation strikes too close to home, reigniting his own private obsessions. And Britt, in the wake of national tragedy, is haunted, both awake and asleep, by the persistent ghost of a doomed, lost girl, perhaps a warning of a new tragedy to come. Britt meets the Ice Maiden, nearly freezes to death, and then the trail heats up as the sins of the fathers begin to strike down the innocent. A stone-cold killer out of her past is stalking the Ice Maiden again. Nothing is what it seems. And the inferno is yet to come....

Edna Buchanan, a born storyteller, combines her trademark wit, grit, and tension in The Ice Maiden, a narrative alive with Miami's blistering heat and high-octane atmosphere.

About this title

Review:

Miami crime reporter Britt Montero, the Cuban American with Latin passion and Yankee perseverance, gets involved with members of the Cold Case task force that's reopened an old case involving the murder of a high school senior and the rape and near-death of his girlfriend, who's now a sculptor with an unusual specialty--ice carving. Unmasking the killers requires Sunny Hartley's cooperation, but even Britt's blandishments can't convince her to help the task force bring her attackers and her boyfriend's murderers to justice. And it doesn't help any that the head of the force, who has her own reasons for pulling her men off the investigation, seems to have something romantic going with homicide cop Kendall MacDonald, Britt's old (but hardly forgotten) lover. As usual, Edna Buchanan delivers a denouement that's full of bittersweet tricks and turns in this latest outing for her popular series heroine. --Jane Adams

About the Author:

Edna Buchanan knows firsthand that underneath Miami's glistening facade lies a city torn by violence and muddied by corruption, where every moment a crime is waiting to happen. As a Pulitzer Prize-winning crime reporter, Buchanan has exposed the seamier sides of this sun-drenched paradise, then used her more than twenty years of experience to create a dynamic and deadly Miami that vividly comes alive in each of her novels. Especially when the city is seen through the fiercely intense eyes of a tough newspaperwoman named Britt Montero. The author of eleven books, Buchanan has spent time behind bars -- with two serial killers. She lives in Miami, Florida.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0380973324
• ISBN 13: 9780380973323
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304