Dead Before Dark-Wendy Corsi Staub

Dead Before Dark
Wendy Corsi Staub
Zebra, Apr 2009, $6.99
ISBN 9781420101324

The Night Watchman serial killer was as infamous as any back in the sixties; but abruptly the murder spree ended. Now thirty-five years later, the only person who knows personally what happened to the Night Watchman all those years ago is released from Attica. Three and a half decades is a long time between kills, but he is back and quickly knows who his final victim will be though he has a few other murders to make on his trek across America before he completes his final masterpiece. He chose psychic detective Lucinda Sloan as the last victim after seeing her on television as he finds her skill to “see” murders fascinating.

The Night Watchman needs to prepare the last one for death by engaging her in a game of cat and mouse. He sends her cryptic notes that he also gives to her friend Cam Hastings, who still has not recovered from her daughter’s abduction last summer or for that matter the murder of her sister years ago (see DYING BREATH). Finally the egotistical killer sends the same notes to former FBI agent Vic Shattuck, who is writing a true crime nonfiction about the Night Watchman. None of the trio can quite figure out from the strange missives who is next, but the Night Watchman is narrowing the field as his great finish to his grand tour is coming.

Although serial killers sending clues to the cops have been around for quite a long time, DEAD BEFORE DARK is a terrific thriller starring an evil, efficient and effective psychopath and the three people he chooses to spice up his second coming. The story line is fast-paced from the moment the reader meets the Night Watchman, who knows his first task as a free man is to kill. Sub-genre fans will appreciate this fine saga as Lucinda realizes by the third homicide that the serial killer is playing chess with her.

Harriet Klausner