A Defence for the Dead

by Michael Fredrickson (Contributor)

On the trail of a serial killer. Leaving a bloody trail of bodies from coast to coast, the serial killer known as Van Gogh marks his victims with his gruesome signature. After ten such bodies the FBI finds him and guns him down. For Boston lawyer Jimmy Morrissey, however, Van Gogh's death is only the beginning. Morrissey has problems of his own and things get worse when he is told about a chilling piece of evidence. A photograph of a beautiful woman with Morrissey's name and address scrawled on the back is found in Van Gogh's apartment. Who is the mystery woman and what connects her and the serial killer to Morrissey? New clues surface to make him wonder if the dead suspect was indeed the real killer. With a murderer possibly still at large and a client who technically no longer exists, Morrissey is left to mount a defence for the dead.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Articulate, surprisingly and delightfully so for a mystery. I had part of it figured out at the first scent of a particular clue. Nonetheless, the ending offered a surprise I hadn't expected. A really good, well written story for lovers of mystery.

[Cecilia · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fairly good murder mystery with flesh and blood characters. The plot was weak though and the lead up to the solution sloppy and not very well defined. Color me disappointed.

[Victoria · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was definitely a very well-written murder mystery - more educated-sounding than many (perhaps because the writer is a lawyer). All in all, I thought it was pretty fun, pretty exciting, with a little bit of a twist at the end. Honestly, it was the overly ambiguous ending coupled with its general implausibility that spoiled the book a bit for me. But I think I would still read another by this author just for his writing style alone - I just hope that the plot is handled with more finesse in the future!

[Brett]

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