Suffering great emotional stress and grief as a result of the violent death of his fiancé, detective Simon Ziele has been transferred out to a small. He really needed to get away from the memories and setting of his tragedy in New York City so he could get his life back together. But, after only a couple of months on his new quiet job he is called to a shockingly violent homicide scene. A pretty young woman has had her throat cut, body slashed with a razor blade and her face beaten to a bloody pulp.
Within the next few hours Simon is contacted by a noted criminologist from Columbia University who wants to talk about the murder. Amazingly, Professor Alistair Sinclair describes in striking detail the method used to murder the victim. His reason for contacting detective Ziele is that one of his research subjects deranged fantasies details murdering a young woman in exactly the way this woman was killed. Michael Fromley is, of course, now the prime suspect. Ziele and Sinclair with his three assistants proceed to try to track down Fromley. He is almost certain to kill again if he is not stopped.
Ziele is still obsessed with his own grief and sees things all around him that remind him of his fiancé. But, this investigation does seem to be pulling him out of his emotional funk. Amazingly, every time Ziele and Sinclair follow up on a lead or clue the mysterious killer seems to be one step ahead of them to block their progress. Two more murders are the result when witnesses are tracked down. The killer knows what they know and makes sure they don’t learn any more. When a body surfaces in the East River turns out to be Fromley and turns out to have been dead for at least three weeks, Ziele has to start all over to find suspects. If not Fromley then why are these killings so closely aligned with Fromley’s fantasies?
The identity of the killer will surprise you in the end. I love surprise endings so I won’t ruin it for you. Set in 1905, “In the Shadow of Gotham” is a fine tale and earns an 8 of 10 on the Weaver meter.
