Remarkable, insightful characters reinforce this entertaining murder story.

Detectives from the Washington, D.C., Police Department have a serial killer case on their hands in this third installment of a procedural series.

Detective Marcus Rose enters the emergency room on a stretcher in critical condition after someone has shot him three times. The story then jumps back four weeks to the murder case that ultimately leads to his shooting. Cops have found 25-year-old Sarah Murphy in her home facedown and handcuffed to a bed, with a fatal stab wound in her back and through her heart. The number “347” is written in blood on a bathroom mirror. Two other recent killings, one in Virginia and the other in Maryland, have the same M.O., from the manner of death to the bloody number on a mirror. Marcus and his partner, Detective Logan Steele, lock onto a suspect quickly, even if they initially only connect him to two of the victims. As the local newspaper picks up the story and dubs the serial killer “the Boogey Man,” Marcus, believing there’s a chance they don’t have the right culprit yet, continues to investigate. Deciphering the cryptic numbers at the scenes may be the answer to solving the murders. As in his preceding novels, White (The Root of All Evil, 2016, etc.) zeros in on the law-enforcing characters. In this story, the homicide unit’s new sergeant, Reginald Powell, offers comic relief, as his intermittent mumbling renders orders incomprehensible. The recurring detective is, as always, profound. He’s a germophobe who often uses hand sanitizer, but it’s apparent that Marcus is also trying to wash away “the stink of crime,” especially at home with his wife, Gina. The straightforward narrative is more procedural than mystery, although it boasts suspense, as readers will be anticipating the confrontation that lands Marcus in the hospital. At the same time, the author’s bare-bones prose is fitting, generally detailing basics (for example, a suspect’s physical traits) while investigators gather information primarily through dialogue.

Remarkable, insightful characters reinforce this entertaining murder story.

-Kirkus Reviews