Customer Reviews

The Night Killer: A Diane Fallon Forensic Investigation

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I have a meter I judge books by. I call it the angst to action ratio meter. A lot of fiction has pages and pages detailing the thought process of its female characters. Self doubt, worry, anxiety, denial, self pity... You name a negative emotion and some authors wallow in it. It would seem quite a few writers basically haven't much of a story to tell, so they fill up space by playing an endless mind-loop of `what-if's, why-not's and woe-is-me's.

On the other hand, there are female characters like Beverly Connor's Dr. Dianne Fallon who just go about the process of telling a story in a straight forward and exciting fashion. That's the kind of novel I enjoy. Fast paced and full of action with a heroine that is neither wishy-washy nor in need of constant rescue.

In Connor's latest offering The Night Killer, Dr Fallon visits Roy Barre's remote mountain farm to pick up a collection of Indian artifacts he has donated to the museum. As evening approaches, she drives back down the treacherous mountain road and is caught in a thunderstorm. Lost and disoriented, Dianne sees a farm house ahead and decides to ask the farmer for directions. That's when lightening strikes a tree beside the road and it falls onto the hood of her SUV. She peers thru the streaming windshield at the face of a skeleton staring back at her.

Deciding she probably doesn't want much close contact with homeowners who store bodies in their shrubbery, Dianne attempts to find her way on foot back up the mountain to the Barre's farm. Meanwhile, the house's occupants turn their hounds loose to find her.

See what I mean about angst to action. Connor's books move forward at such a fast pace there isn't time for the character to indulge in much introspection and the rethinking of every action.

I believe this is the eighth book in Connor's Dianne Fallon series. Any of these books can be read out of sequence. For anyone who starts with The Night Killer, here is a little background that may be useful.

Dr Dianne Fallon is a forensic anthropologist, archaeologist, and former human rights investigator. She spent several years in third world countries, uncovering mass graves and attempting to gather evidence of human rights violations and atrocities. The death of her adopted daughter at the hands of one of the tyrants she was investigating has brought her back to the US to heal and choose a new direction for her life.

An old socialite friend offered Dianne the position of director of a small natural history museum in rural Georgia. Local politics influenced Dianne's decision to also accept the job as head of the county's crime scene investigation unit. A marriage of the museum's resources with the crime lab's needs seemed a perfect solution for a cash strapped small town without an abundance of crime.

If this all sounds vaguely familiar, you may have seen an episode or two of Fox TV's Bones. Although Bones is supposed to be loosely based on Kathy Reich's Temperance Brennan novels, it is also set in a museum and bears some small resemblance to Connor's books which were introduced long before the TV show ever aired.

If you were a fan of Patricia Cornwall's early novels, you will enjoy Connor's books. The author holds degrees in anthropology and archaeology so she is in a position to add some very interesting facts into her story lines.

I love Beverly Connor's Diane Fallon series. I like all the characters and how they are developed. They grow with each book. There is never just one story line, there are always related story lines that tie in by the end of the book. This one was particularly good because I thought that I had figured out who the killer was and then discovered that I was only partially right!

This is another Beverly Conner forensics mystery. As usual she delivers a fast paced, well written, adventure with lots of twists and turns to make for a busy evenings entertainment. She presents a strong female heroine, well educated who thinks logically and can deliver with grace and style. Enjoy.

I love this series!! I wish there were more books but if they came out faster, they wouldn't be so carefully written.

This is what the Kay Scarpetta series started out to be before Patricia Cornwell went over a cliff somewhere and the whole thing ended up in conspiracy/paranoid Weirdo-land. The Diane Fallon books have interesting, believable characters, great plots, plenty of action, fascinating forensics. I like the Lindsay Chamberlain series, too. I hope they keep coming for a long time without losing steam.

Forensic anthropologist Dr. Diane Fallon, director of the RiverTrail Museum of Natural History and the Rosewood, GA crime lab, is returning from a trip to the mountains of Rendell County, Georgia where she arranged for the loan of an arrowhead collection from Roy Barre. Diane's SUV is struck by a tree during a storm and a skeleton rolls across the hood of her car. Unsettled by this, Diane gets out of her vehicle and is accosted by a stranger. She escapes into the forest, pursued by the stranger's dogs. Diane meets up with a man who tells her he had been taking photographs when he heard the commotion and offers his aid. When Diane refuses his help, he loans her his poncho and knife and agrees to call the police. Diane makes her way back to the Barre place, only to find Roy Barre and his wife have been brutally murdered. From that point on, Diane is involved in two separate cases: identifying the human bones in the tree that hit her SUV and finding the murderer of the Barres. But the sheriff of Rendell County isn't making things easy for her when he orders her out of his county and off the case. Even worse, the killer soon murders another couple and appears to have targeted Diane.

Beverly Connor's versatile thriller will appeal to readers on many levels. Her incorporation of forensics, geology and anthropology into an intriguing plot creates an excellent whodunit. Connor tackles complicated forensics in several different fields, but her straightforward, didactic narrative not only proves intriguing and entertaining but easy to follow and understand. Connor's smart writing, evolving characters, captivating storylines, and fascinating forensics ensure this series' continued popularity.

This was a very suspenseful book in this series. Diane Fallon is picking up some arrowheads for the museum from a couple way up in the Georgia Hills. It is raining on her way back, she has an encounter with a tree holding a skeleton. Then someone chases her and sets their dogs on her. This is just one of the suspenseful areas of the book. Very good.

After visiting Roy and Ozella Barre who donating their arrowhead collection to the museum; Forensic investigator and museum curator Diane Fallon is driving down a winding mountain road on a dark and stormy night. Lightning strikes a tree, which falls onto her vehicle; a skull falls from the tree through her windshield. A man asks her if she is okay; when she mentions the skull, he grabs her.

Diane breaks free of him and flees trying to return to the Barre home while the stranger releases his dogs. However Diane reaches their home only to find both dead. She owes her life to a stranger who got the dogs off her scent. Diane informs the local sheriff what happened including facts about her rescuer. She has doubts the sheriff can solve the case and another couple is discovered murdered in the same brutal manner as the Barrres were. Frank, the stranger who saved her life, is a private investigator hired to find a missing girl and her boyfriend. Against all advice to the contrary, Diane investigates, but a killer stalks her.

Fans who enjoy the forensic cases of Kat Scarpetta and Temperance Brennan will want to read the Diane Fallon mysteries. The protagonist holds three jobs, but does each one quite well. Loaded with non-stop action, viable suspects and an incredibly deep atmosphere of danger, The Night Killer is a strong entertaining whodunit.

Harriet Klausner

......why Beverly Connor's books are not more well known. I have read all the Diane Fallon series and love all the super smart, quirky and talented characters. I have had to order my books online because they are not available locally. I believe they are very popular overseas and more widely marketed there. I'm glad I discovered them and highly recommend each and every one.

This series is probably my favorite series to read now. The action starts on page one but it isn't too graphic in nature. There are times I can't put the book down. I have to read the next chapter, or at least start it, because I have to know what's going to happen. The author does such a great job at getting your interest and keeping it. I love the characters, too. Diane Fallon and her staff are fabulous. They are believable and 3-dimensional characters. The author has done a fabulous job. I can't wait to read the next one. I highly recommend this book. Matter of fact, I recommend you read the whole series!

"The Night Killer" is another winner in this excellent series. While some continuing series start to get stale, the Diane Fallon series gets better and better with each book. The characters grow, new characters are added, and the plots are varied from book to book. Diane is a strong character and has friendships with other strong women, without pettiness and back-stabbing. Diane has her share of enemies, but can always count on her friends. Each of her friends has a speciality, either as a scientist in the lab or an investigator. They all work together to solve the crimes that come through the crime lab/museum, and the books describe all aspects of an investigation from questioning suspects, computer searches, and examining forensic evidence.

This book was action-packed from the very beginning and will keep you guessing until the satisfying conclusion. "The Night Killer" will appeal to new readers as well as those that are already fans of the series. There is just enough background information given about Diane and her friends/co-workers that all readers will enjoy.