Copycat [Hardcover]

Erica Spindler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2006

When the Sleeping Angel Killer takes the lives of three young children, homicide detective Kitt Lundren's career is destroyed. Now the killer is back--or are the new crimes the work of a copycat?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Sleeping Angel Killer provides the chilling focus to Spindler's 12th bloodcurdling romantic thriller (after Killer Takes All). Kitt Lundgren and Mary Catherine "M.C." Riggio of the Rockford, Ill., VCB (Violent Crimes Bureau) vow to catch a serial killer who sets the suffocated bodies of 10-year-old girls in their own beds, dressed like angels in frilly white nightgowns, hair spread out on their pillows and pink lip gloss applied postmortem to their mouths. Spindler's setting of a "meat-and-potatoes" Midwest town provides a fresh background for two believable and very cool investigators. Kitt, a recovering middle-aged alcoholic, tried and failed to catch the murderer five years earlier, during a 2001 killing spree, while her own child was dying of leukemia and her marriage was falling apart under the strain. Now, when eerily similar crimes recur, someone calls Kitt, identifying himself as the original killer and the new perp as just a copycat. M.C., an ambitious, distrustful newbie, is assigned to help Kitt with the investigation. The detectives must overcome their personal problems in order to catch the monsters, a task culminating in a breathless finale. (June)
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Review

"A classic confrontation between good and evil." -- Publishers Weekly on Dead Run

"Creepy and compelling, In Silence is a real page-turner." -- The Times Picayune

"If you enjoy the suspense of the classic 'woman in jeopardy' mystery, See Jane Die makes perfect beach reading." -- Cleveland Plain Dealer

All Fall Down is "shocking, emotional, an engrossing read." -- Stella Cameron, author of Kiss Them Goodbye

Shocking Pink is "one of the best, most frightening novels of the year." -- Painted Rock Reviews

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Mira; 1 edition (June 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0778323129
• ISBN-13: 978-0778323129
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.9 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #380,127 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A New York Times and International bestselling author, Erica Spindler's skill for crafting engrossing plots and compelling characters has earned both critical praise and legions of fans. Published in 25 countries, her stories have been lauded as "thrill-packed page turners, white- knuckle rides and edge-of-your-seat whodunits."

Raised in Rockford, Illinois, Erica had planned on being an artist, earning a BFA from Delta State University and an MFA from the University of New Orleans in the visual arts. In June of 1982, in bed with a cold, she picked up a romance novel for relief from daytime television. She was immediately hooked, and soon decided to try to write one herself. She leaped from romance to suspense in 1996 with her novel Forbidden Fruit, and found her true calling.

Her novel Bone Cold won the prestigious Daphne du Maurier Award for excellence. A Romance Writers of America Honor Roll member, she received a Kiss of Death Award for her novels Forbidden Fruit and Dead Run and was a three-time RITA® Award finalist. Publishers Weekly awarded the audio version of her novel Shocking Pink a Listen Up Award, naming it one of the best audio mystery books of 1998.

Erica lives just outside New Orleans, Louisiana, with her husband and two sons and is busy at work on her next thriller.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Copycat, June 2, 2006

By 

AK "Bro" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Copycat (Hardcover)

Five years ago, Kitt Lundgren's world shattered; her daughter slowly died of pediatric cancer, her marriage fell apart, she fell into the bottle, and a serial killer terrorized her town. Blowing the Sleeping Angel Kiler case could have cost Kitt her career, but she's recovered, and now, he's back, or is he? Though the new murders resemble the SAK, there are anomalies, and what's more, the original SAK has called Kitt to tell her that the new cases are a copycat, one he resents and wants her to end. Working with a partner who distrusts her and is not happy to be secondary on the case to Kitt's primary is not ideal, nor is facing her own demons on multiple levels, but Kitt manages. With each death, things get more personal, and people outside the victim pool start dying as well. Just as Kitt's on the ragged edge, things truly get interesting, in the Chinese curse sense.

**** This is Spindler at her best. The tension stays high from start to finish, making you want to find out who did it, and it's someone you probably won't see coming. Brava. ****

Reviewed by Amanda Killgore.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AN EXCELLENT READ, September 17, 2006

By 

D. Blankenship (The Ozarks) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Copycat (Hardcover)

As pointed out by other reviewers, this is truely a page turner. Tha author, a natural story teller, brings his stories to life through his character developement and obvious understanding of human nature. Our heroines in this tale are certainly carrying around enough baggage of their own to make an interesting story and when the author adds some very horrible crimes...well, you get the picture. As I said, Spindler is a natural story teller who uses nice, crisp prose and keeps the interest of the reader from the first page through to the last. His character development is great and his imagination is certainly not limited. If you want a nice read, one that will hold your interest and truely intertain, then this one is for you. Recommend this one highly.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's great until..., August 2, 2006

By 

Amber - See all my reviews

This review is from: Copycat (Hardcover)

The end! I thought the ending was a big let down after a really great story. To me it just seemed as if the author reached a certain number of pages and said 'okay, gotta end it, let me pull an ending out of this hat.' It just seemed cliched to me. But everyone else seemed to love it.