"CITY OF FIRE" by Robert Ellis (A)

There is a palpable sense of danger and an edge of your seat urgency in this meaty third novel by Robert Ellis which exhibits the mark of a master story teller. What this novel lacks in dialogue it more than makes up for in its floridly descriptive passages and a seemingly dead on analyses of the police procedurals used to solve a crime.

This taut and gripping tale is led by a woman in a change of pace from the normal testosterone-laden detective story. Lena Gamble is a comely female cop who is more no nonsense than romantic. She has recently been promoted from the Hollywood PD to the elite RHD (Robbery Homicide Division) of the LAPD and is now one of only two women in that division. Even though a very pretty woman, Lena has succeeded as a cop because she is smart and she is tough. She also has her feminine intuition and a nose for the direction of the case. She has been elevated because her instincts have been recognized as being second to none.

This story is far more serious than most due to its subject matter about a psychopathic serial killer who mutilates his victims after raping them. The result is that there is very little literary adornment in the form of social chit chat and conviviality among the characters, mostly members of the Los Angeles police. Everything is subsumed by the horror of this monster and the need to catch him before he preys upon another victim.

The curious thing is that everyone here is damaged goods, even Lena. Her only brother David had just hit the big time as the leader of a band coming into national prominence when he was found murdered in a seedy, drug infested area of town. This didn't make sense to Lena since she was convinced that he had been clean for some time. No witnesses ever came forward, and his earlier visit that evening to a nightclub offered few clues.

Lena and David only had each other and they had been very close. Lena was then a Hollywood cop which in itself offered some humor at the sibling dichotomy of her career versus his counterculture rock band image. Never, however, was that dichotomy greater than when she was one of the investigating officers at the scene of his tragic death.

She still lives in the California craftsman cottage that he had purchased for the two of them. Many of the rooms have been left untouched almost as a shrine to his memory. Even the garage remains as it was from the days when it was converted to a sound studio where the Dave Gamble band used to practice. Lena has been unable to move on in the two years since his murder, and no doubt she will remain this way until the case is closed.

Detective Hank Novak of the LAPD has been her new RHD partner for the last two months, and he is ready to give her the command of the next case. Novak is close to retirement and about as burnt out as one can be. He has seen it all and is sick to death of it. Novak is a kind mentor and he respects Lena's many talents, so he is more than ready to pass the baton on to her in preparation for his retirement.

Lena's first case as the lead detective is guaranteed to lead the news. Nikki Brant, a young art student, has been found brutally murdered in her home by her husband, James, an accountant who claims he was out working all night. Besides the unusual horror of the crime scene, there is a quirk to the modus operandi of the killer. Instead of quickly leaving the house, he hung around for hours while he surfed the net, did a crossword puzzle in the newspaper, and even found the time to wash the murder weapon, a large kitchen knife, in the dishwasher. These actions suggest a very confidant killer, but they also raise the question as to what his purpose was for doing this.

Nikki's husband appears to be a strong suspect. The cops know that most domestic murders are committed by their spouses, and James makes an especially easy target. Lena is not so sure. Her instincts tell her that something is not right, that things don't add up. James looks guilty, but he doesn't seem the type. There is the matter of that crossword puzzle, which was written by a left-handed person in a style unlike either of the Brants, both of whom are right-handed. Then whoever surfed the net strangely erased the history of the web sites visited. Finally, the crime scene resembles that of the Teresa Lopez murder some time back, but her own husband had confessed to that crime and now he is in jail. They will have to wait for the DNA report to come back from the lab. 2007, St. Martin's Press, 357 pages.