Last Known Victim (STP - Mira) [Hardcover]

Erica Spindler (Author)

Book Description

Series: STP - Mira | Publication Date: October 1, 2007

August 2005.

Amid death and destruction, hurricane-savaged New Orleans has a new dark force to fear.

As the rescue efforts unfold, a grisly discovery is made at one of the massive refrigerator 'graveyards.' One of these metal hulks contains six human hands--all female, all right hands. The press has dubbed the unknown perpetrator 'The Handyman.' But with no way to trace the origin of this refrigerator, and with evidence lost to time and the elements, the case dead-ends.

Captain Patti O'shay is a straight-arrow, by-the-book cop who is assigned to the case. Her tough, unflinching character is fractured when her husband and fellow police captain is found murdered--surprised by looters taking advantage of the post-storm chaos.

August 2007Patti, still grieving and disillusioned, gets a call from homicide: skeletal remains have been unearthed in City Park. The unknown victim-- a female--is missing her right hand. But for Patti, this grave holds something even more shocking. Found beside the victim's bones is her husband's police badge.

Casting aside the very 'rule book' by which she has lived her life, Patti is fearless--but so is the killer. As he stalks her she is forced to question all she believes in, to doubt the code she has lived by--because she knows that if she doesn't find The Handyman first, she will become his last known victim.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters failed to wash away evil in bestseller Spindler's grim vision of New Orleans. In the storm's aftermath, police discover a refrigerator stocked with severed right hands, evidence in a string of bizarre murders attributed to The Handyman. A shallow grave containing a hand-less body and the badge of Sammy O'Shay, an NOPD captain shot and killed during the hurricane, convinces Capt. Patti O'Shay that the Handyman is responsible for her husband's death. Meanwhile, exotic dancer Yvette Borger claims to have received cryptic, obsessive love notes signed The Artist, but the NOPD questions her motives and credibility. When O'Shay picks up on similarities between her Handyman and Borger's Artist, the by-the-book captain finds herself bending the rules to get to the heart of the stripper's story. While strong female leads compete for space, overwritten backstory and subplot sometimes drag on the investigation's urgency. Spindler (Cause for Alarm) hints throughout at the killer's psychology, but nothing prepares for the ludicrous diagnosis offered at the end. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

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

"Addictively suspenseful." -- New Mystery Reader on Copycat

"Another spine-tingling thriller . . . with a twisted ending. Copycat will keep you on the edge of your chair and up for hours turning page after page." -- Writers Unlimited

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

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

"Spindler's latest moves fast and takes no prisoners. An intriguing look into the twisted mind of someone for whom murder is simply a business." -- Publishers Weekly on Cause for Alarm

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

Spindler "is able to effectively weave a web of suspicion over a great number of characters, gradually eliminating suspects -- by mortality or otherwise -- but making it almost impossible to predict the outcome." -- Bookreporter.com on Killer Takes All

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Mira; Library ed edition (October 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0778324613
• ISBN-13: 978-0778324614
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.8 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,311,435 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

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Her Best, October 15, 2007

By 

Cecilia Sheppard (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Last Known Victim (STP - Mira) (Hardcover)

This book was decent, but it was not Erica Spindler's best. There was suspense, but the book was overloaded with characters who had confusing relationships and the end was simply ridiculous. I say give it a read, but get it from the library.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Prepare To Suspend Your Disbelief..., April 9, 2008

By 

mayfayre "mayfayre" (New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Last Known Victim (Mass Market Paperback)

I get the feeling that this is one of those books that, if you've read the author's earlier books involving members of the Malone family, you will really enjoy because it seems as though a lot of prior protagonists are brought back and their lives updated. However, if you haven't read those earlier books, you don't have anything invested in those characters, so the glaring problem with this book is impossible to overlook: the fact that Capt. Patti O'Shay - the policewoman who was the first-on-scene at the time of her policeman husband's murder - is also the person who is placed in charge of his reopened murder investigation. Not to mention the fact that the murdered policeman's nephew is also one of the investigating detectives. Isn't this one of those situations where a member of the murdered person's family would not even be allowed NEAR such an investigation to avoid the possibility of subjectivity or prejudicing the case, much less be involved with the interviewing of actual suspects? It would seem that their involvement with any investigation would basically hand a defense attorney a "not guilty" verdict.

This stumbling block really prevented me from giving this book a higher rating. It's an okay book, involving a number of characters and subplots which was good. The main character,Patti O'Shay, though, was rather cardboard, I thought. It was set in post-Katrina New Orleans, which was also a nice twist and a good reminder of how much still needs to be done down there. But, it was also pretty clear mid-way through the book whodunit - it was just a matter of realizing which character seemed to be the furthest removed from consideration.

SPOILER ALERT: The reason why Sammy O'Shay was where he was when he was murdered also seemed a bit shaky. His murder took place in a wealthy community - one protected by a private security force and in an area that wasn't flooded. If he went in there immediately before Katrina struck, there should have been a record of the murderer's entrance also. If he went in there during the hurricane, then the reason why he was following the car - an open trunk - is ridiculous, given the fact that he should have been involved with the evacuation of the city, not doing what we were told he was doing.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, Fast-Paced Read, January 1, 2008

By 

KLR "KLR" (Vicksburg, MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Last Known Victim (STP - Mira) (Hardcover)

The book was a fast, engrossing read that held my attention throughout. I really liked the setting of post-Katrina in New Orleans and thought it made a great location for a murder mystery. However, it seemed as if all the characters were related to each other and I was confused by the family ties. I also questioned how realistic it was that the captain would be investigating her own husband's murder...wouldn't this be a conflict of interest? I didn't find that part believable but overall a very good read and one I recommend to fellow mystery/suspense readers.