Plot or Premise

A serial killer is stalking hotel guests in New York City, and the police have no leads.

What I Liked

Delaney is asked for advice to help track down the killer after the second body drops. The MO is identical…a man alone in the city, a potential tryst in the room, naked or close to it, a stab wound in the neck, repeated stabbing of his genitals, a wet and wiped down bathroom, and missing towels. And no robbery or apparent motive. Eventually, Delaney starts to suspect it’s a woman, even though there are few examples anywhere of serial killers who are women.

The twists and turns, including information leaking out to the woman, are interesting. As is the life of the woman, what she’s experiencing, and the mental health conditions that are messing with her mind.

At one point, Delaney and his wife are talking about the case and how “mechanical” it feels, putting lists together (similar to The First Deadly Sin) as if they are “accountants”, and that feeling is definitely palpable but also believable.

What I Didn’t Like

The politics of the police station and who is backstabbing who are boring, as is the constant fixation on the killer’s medical fears.

The Bottom Line

Heavy on procedure and a rare female serial killer story for the time

Plot or Premise

There’s a serial killer afoot in New York, striking down pedestrians on the street. Edward X. Delaney is asked to quietly hunt them down.

What I Liked

Once the main investigation gets going, it’s interesting to see Delaney not only figure out whodunnit but also HOW to figure out whodunnit. Much of the methodology is old hat to anyone watching police procedurals or FBI movies, but when Sanders was writing it, it was all relatively new to the police world. I love how Sanders has Delaney involve both beat cops and civilians, finding ways to motivate them to help, and giving them both tasks and purpose. The reader knows whodunnit from the beginning, of course, and you see both sides of the crime — the perpetrator and his messed-up reasonings, as well as Delaney’s methodical approach.

What I Didn’t Like

The book moves a bit slowly at the beginning, and is complicated by Delaney’s personal life (his wife is dying of cancer). I found some of the perpetrator’s life presented as a bit over-the-top, which was part of the zeitgeist at the time (i.e., every serial killer has to be odd, almost perverse, in other areas of their life), but was far more impactful when they were focused on the mundane elements of his life. I know some readers loved the backstabbing politics of the police force, but it adds little to the meat of the case.

The Bottom Line

Watch out for harmless-looking pedestrians in New York

Plot or Premise

Women are hired to work on code-breaking cyphers, amid a flurry of men with giant egos, poor mannerisms, and potential nefarious intentions.

What I Liked

Previous stories have trodden the same ground, although often in WWII. This one picks up after the war, focusing on the beginnings of the Cold War. Cat Killeen moves hundreds of miles to work in Arlington Hall, home of the Army Security Agency. The story follows generally a combination of her getting to work with someone brilliant but difficult at work, showing her aptitude for the work, and building a social life with some other girls who work in the same unit, with the requisite dating of someone from security intelligence (aka maybe a spy!).

What I Didn’t Like

The story was decent but a little short on action; it was the “cozy” equivalent of a spy thriller. There’s also a scene where things happen to her rather than because of her, and it feels like a lost chance for more agency in the protagonist. So the ending felt more flat than determinative.

The Bottom Line

A bit of spy work with some light romance