Mental Case by James Neal Harvey

NYPD detective Ben Tolliver investigates a series of seemingly motiveless murders

A beautiful woman strides into a jewelry store and asks to try on the finest diamond they have. After admiring it in the mirror, she draws a revolver and kills everyone in the shop, screaming, “Horrible! Vile! Hideous! Filthy!” As the smoke clears, she looks at the security camera, puts the pistol in her mouth, and pulls the trigger.

Who was this woman? Why did she kill, and why did she turn the gun on herself? The case falls to Detective Ben Tolliver, a homicide cop who is not afraid of asking tough questions. The killer was the daughter of a major political player who will do whatever it takes to cover up his child’s troubled past. At the root of the conspiracy is a disturbed doctor whose experiments go far beyond ethical science, and who has the power to destroy Tolliver’s mind, body, and soul.

“Harvey’s prose throughout remains bright and remarkably clean, no small feat given the gruesome nature of much of the action.” —Publishers Weekly

“A gripping, tautly written thriller.” —Orlando Sentinel on Flesh and Blood