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Author: Kate Rhodes
Genre: Mystery
Length: 320 pages
Published: 2013
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Brief Synopsis: (Taken from Goodreads) Introducing Alice Quentin, a London psychologist with family baggage, who finds herself at the center of a grisly series of murders.
Alice Quentin is a psychologist with some painful family secrets, but she has a good job, a good-looking boyfriend, and excellent coping skills, even when that job includes evaluating a convicted killer who’s about to be released from prison. One of the highlights of her day is going for a nice, long run around her beloved London—it's impossible to fret or feel guilty about your mother or brother when you're concentrating on your breathing—until she stumbles upon a dead body at a former graveyard for prostitutes, Crossbones Yard.
The dead woman’s wounds are alarmingly similar to the signature style of Ray and Marie Benson, who tortured and killed thirteen women before they were caught and sent to jail. Five of their victims were never found. That was six years ago, and the last thing Alice wants to do is to enter the sordid world of the Bensons or anyone like them. But when the police ask for her help in building a psychological profile of the new murderer, she finds that the killer—and the danger to her and the people she cares about—may already be closer than she ever imagined.
Alice Quentin is a psychologist with some painful family secrets, but she has a good job, a good-looking boyfriend, and excellent coping skills, even when that job includes evaluating a convicted killer who’s about to be released from prison. One of the highlights of her day is going for a nice, long run around her beloved London—it's impossible to fret or feel guilty about your mother or brother when you're concentrating on your breathing—until she stumbles upon a dead body at a former graveyard for prostitutes, Crossbones Yard.
The dead woman’s wounds are alarmingly similar to the signature style of Ray and Marie Benson, who tortured and killed thirteen women before they were caught and sent to jail. Five of their victims were never found. That was six years ago, and the last thing Alice wants to do is to enter the sordid world of the Bensons or anyone like them. But when the police ask for her help in building a psychological profile of the new murderer, she finds that the killer—and the danger to her and the people she cares about—may already be closer than she ever imagined.
My Review:
I give this book a 5 out of 5.
I received a copy of this through a Goodreads giveaway (I've won a bunch of books through them so you'll see that note a lot in the coming posts because I'm plowing through them right now!).
I love a good mystery. The danger, the suspense, the tragic hero/heroine...all of it. I could not put this book down. Alice Quentin is a psychologist with her own dark past. The abuse she was victim to as a child, the state of denial her mother lives her days in, and the attempts at helping her brother (who had suffered a nervous breakdown several years before and lived out of his van, doing drugs to self-medicate his bipolar disorder) all shape who she is - and how she reacts to things. She's claustrophobic, taking the stairs or running to escape enclosed spaces, or people.
She starts out by finding a dead body while on her run. After finding the dead body, the police want her to help them profile the killer, as the victim's wounds are nearly identical to the wounds that victims from a previous serial murder case had. Except the killing team who perpetrated those murders are already rotting - one in jail and the other six feet under. Then she starts receiving threatening letters.
Someone is stalking her. It's all connected to the murder case. Another victim is found, and then another. When she's finally attacked in her own home, the police put her in protective custody. Throughout it all she finds romance in an unexpected place.
As the plot thickens, other characters are drawn into the middle of things. Alice's brother Will, her best friend Lola, and Lola's new boyfriend Lars all get tied into the mystery. Eventually it all comes to a head and the mystery is solved. (Obviously I'm not going to give away the details. Read for yourself!)
I really loved how the author tied everyone and everything together and wrapped it all up neatly at the end. No plots left lying open. I'm anxious to see what happens with Alice in the next book (A Killing of Angels) due out in July of this year!
You can purchase Crossbones Yard through Amazon in either hard copy or Kindle format.
Have you read Crossbones Yard? If so, leave a comment and let me know your thoughts!
Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.
Please note: I was not compensated in any way for this review. It is strictly my opinion.
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