September 14, 2015
This thrilling third mystery (after The Drowned Man) starring the erudite Chief Insp. Peter Cammon, retired from Scotland Yard, opens with an apt quote from a Viking poem: "Wealth dies, Kinsmen die, a man himself must likewise die. But one thing I know that never diesâthe verdict on each man dead." Peter claims Shakespeare as his religion, but he ends up in the heart of Mormon country when Henry Pastern, a young Salt Lake City police officer whom he met on a previous case and has occasionally mentored, asks for his help on a case that has left Henry personally devastated. What began as a local investigation of drugs and murder on a surburban street seems to have links to the Unabomber and Oklahoma City bombing cases. Whellams, whose 30-year career in criminal law lends authenticity to his writing, weaves the plot seamlessly through a variety of events to keep readers guessing. This intense, suspenseful, well-crafted mystery will make readers glad that Cammon has not retired. Agent: Robert Lecker, Robert Lecker Agency (Canada).