Strangler

by Larry Maness

Overview

New England-based private detective Jake Eaton and his canine sidekick Watson return in their third fast-paced mystery thriller.

One of the most disturbing criminals of the twentieth century was the Boston Strangler. Although Albert DeSalvo was convicted for the killings of thirteen Boston women, many have never been satisfied that DeSalvo was the real killer. The murder of DeSalvo in prison forever sealed his lips.

Acclaimed mystery writer Larry Maness revisits this crime, speculating that the true killer, a person who might have had ties to a politically powerful Massachusetts family dynasty was allowed to escape. Fast forward thirty years: female Harvard research assistants are being killed. Is it The Strangler or a demented copycat? Boston is in a panic and Jake Eaton fears someone he is close to may be the next victim.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781645403715
Publisher:	Speaking Volumes
Publication date:	12/04/2020
Series:	Jake Eaton Mysteries , #3
Pages:	188
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.43(d)

Editorial Reviews

Boston private investigator Jake Eaton (Nantucket Revenge, LJ 11/1/95) wonders why the Boston police have taken over a Cambridge murder case involving rape and strangulation. Eaton quickly discovers a possible connection to the infamous Boston strangler: the victim worked for a woman hoping to publish her theory that the real Boston strangler escaped because of police connivance. A highly interesting plot, complicated by further violence, the deaths of two others connected to the book, and the machinations of the villain himself, makes this a solid choice for most collections.

Library Journal

Why has the Cambridge Police Department been shut out of the case of Ruth Hill, a researcher raped and strangled on Cambridge Common? Herald reporter Bruce Drummond tells shamus Jake Eaton that the Boston department has grabbed the case of his murdered friend, and he wants Jake to find out why it was done—and who did it. Jake has no trouble linking Ruth's murder to two similar murders over the past, but he suspects the earlier cases aren't the real reason Boston is sitting on the case; the roots go much deeper—30 years back, to the days of the Boston Strangler, long ago convicted and killed in prison. When the cops pounced on Albert DeSalvo and put him away, did they get the wrong guy? Or is a diabolical copycat at work? Before Jake can come up with answers, Drummond is tortured and killed, with every indication that the slayings will go on. The clue to the strangler's identity seems to lie in the uncompleted doctoral dissertation of Harvard psychology student Vicki Shaw—but everybody who's seen the manuscript is dead. Can Jake and his ladylove Gloria Graham keep Vicki herself from becoming the strangler's final victim? Maness (A Once Perfect Place, 1996, etc.) provides some thoughtful commentary on the original Boston Strangler investigation, though his hey-presto solution isn't likely to trouble the sleep of cops in Boston, Cambridge, or anywhere else.

Kirkus Reviews