Crossbones Yard
A Thriller
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3.9 • 14 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Introducing Alice Quentin, a London psychologist with family baggage, who finds herself at the center of a grisly series of murders
Alice Quentin is a psychologist with some painful family secrets, but she has a good job, a good-looking boyfriend, and excellent coping skills, even when that job includes evaluating a convicted killer who's about to be released from prison. One of the highlights of her day is going for a nice, long run around her beloved London—it's impossible to fret or feel guilty about your mother or brother when you're concentrating on your breathing—until she stumbles upon a dead body at a former graveyard for prostitutes, Crossbones Yard.
The dead woman's wounds are alarmingly similar to the signature style of Ray and Marie Benson, who tortured and killed thirteen women before they were caught and sent to jail. Five of their victims were never found. That was six years ago, and the last thing Alice wants to do is to enter the sordid world of the Bensons or anyone like them. But when the police ask for her help in building a psychological profile of the new murderer, she finds that the killer—and the danger to her and the people she cares about—may already be closer than she ever imagined.
With gripping suspense and a terrific new heroine, Kate Rhodes's Crossbones Yard introduces a powerful new voice in crime fiction.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
British poet Rhodes provides an intriguing backstory for her lead, Alice Quentin, in her fiction debut, about a twisted serial killer. As children, Alice and her brother, Will, witnessed their father beat their mother. This domestic violence affected Will more than Alice. While Alice has become a successful London psychologist, homeless and mentally disturbed Will sleeps in a van he parks outside her apartment building. One morning, Alice is surprised to learn that all her appointments have been canceled so that she can assist the police. Morris Cley, who murdered a prostitute four years earlier, is about to be released from jail, and the authorities want Alice to predict the likelihood that he will kill again. She becomes involved in another criminal matter after she finds a woman's corpse in Crossbones Yard, the site used until the 19th century as a graveyard for prostitutes. Might Will have committed this recent murder? First-rate writing helps make up for predictable plot developments.
