Product Description

Texas-based crime reporter Molly Cates has just  published her first book, describing the  blood-curdling exploits of serial killer Louie Bronk. Now on  death row, Louie's sentence is about to be carried  out. Molly will be there as a witness, and she  wants to write about it--the final coda to Louie's  story. But suddenly, she's being strongly  discouraged by her boss at the Lone Star  Monthly and by Charlie McFarland, the millionaire  real estate developer whose first wife, Tiny, was  Bronk's most famous victim--and the only one whose  murder is a capital offense. Then Molly starts to  receive dark hints that Louie may not have killed  Tiny after all. There is another murder following  Louis's M.O.--one he could not have committed.  The veracity of Molly's book is threatened--and then  her very life. Caught between a rock and a hard  place, Molly realizes that by attempting to save  Louis she is putting her own life on the line, and  discrediting her own work. Mary Willis Walker brings  a lusty new voice to the mystery scene. Already  recognized for her first novel, she has now created  a character just cheeky and gusty enough to take  her place among the top ranks of female  protagonists such as Kinsey Millhone and Kay Scarpetta.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1498470 in Books
• Published on: 1995-06-01
• Released on: 1995-06-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

From Amazon.com
In this 1995 winner of the Edgar Award for best mystery novel, crime reporter Molly Cates has chronicled the exploits of Louie Bronk, a brutal serial killer scheduled for execution, for her first book. With his execution just a few days away, Molly decides to write the closing chapter on her disturbing relationship with the man known as the Texas Scalper. Strangely, both her boss and the husband of the woman whose murder got Bronk the death penalty pressure her to back off the story. When she receives a chilling anonymous letter and another body is found, she begins to suspect that Bronk is not the killer at all. Her quest for the truth, she discovers, not only discredits her work, but places her own life on the line.

From Publishers Weekly
Walker's second well-wrought mystery, following her Agatha-winning Zero at the Bone , will add to her following. Molly Cates, a crime writer in Austin, Tex., is planning to cover the execution of doggerel-writing serial murderer Louie Bronk, whose five-year killing spree is the subject of Molly's recently published book. But Charlie McFarland, whose wealthy wife, Tiny, was Louie's last victim and who has since remarried, wants the past left buried, suggesting fresh publicity will threaten the stability of his grown daughter, who was 11 at the time of her mother's murder. Next, an anonymous note to Molly warns, in verse, "Now that Louie's doomed to die / I may give his craft a try." Arriving at the McFarland house for a meeting, Molly stumbles on the corpse of Charlie's second wife, Georgia. The police--including Molly's attractive and still interested ex-husband, Grady Traynor--are eying Charlie and his grown children with suspicion when Louie issues an explosive statement that raises questions about Tiny's death and compels Molly to take a hard look at the investigative work she has done. The finale, in which Molly is almost killed, is somewhat gratuitous, but that aside, Molly and her disturbing subject command the reader's rapt attention.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
This suspense yarn from Edgar Award winner Walker is an excellent choice for spoken-word audio. Series character Molly Cates, a reporter for Lone Star Monthly, prepares to wrap up her extensive research into the life and times of serial killer Louie Bronk, whose execution date is fast approaching. When Molly comes across evidence that Louie may not have committed the murder he's about to die for, she pulls out all the stops in an effort to get to the bottom of things. With the help of cop Grady Traynor, her ex-husband (with whom she still shares an affectionate bond), Molly discovers a trail of bodies. Is death row poet Louie innocent or is he using Molly in an elaborate scheme to free himself? Reader C.J. Critt narrates all this in an appropriately flat Texas twang. Highly recommended, with a plea to the producer to record Walker's most recent novel, Under the Beetle's Cellar (Doubleday, 1995).?Mark Annichiarico, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.