Lethal Fetish

by Jeffrey Alan Lockwood

What is "normal" in San Francisco? In 1982, sexual experimentation was common. But naked corpses wearing flea collars?Riley the exterminator is thrust into the kinky corners of a city where the boundary between normalcy and deviancy is blurred—where sex is handcuffed to violence. This ex-cop's journey begins at a deviant's death scene, which leads to a rich kid who finds depraved delight in his six-legged playmates. Following a twisted track through sex shops and vile videos, Riley is soon over his head in terms of the human mind. He joins forces with a brilliant, beautiful psychologist to track a chain of blackmail and extortion into the depths of the human psyche, where degradation is an aphrodisiac. As Riley questions social norms, he has no doubt that he must work closely with people he finds repulsive—but oddly principled—to infiltrate a secret cell devoted to a bizarre fetish involving insects, which has been driven underground by a holier-than-thou district attorney. The group's charismatic leader is taking them toward grisly murder to consummate their deviant desires.A gruesome climax is coming, unless Riley and his trusted gang of misfits from Goat Hill Extermination can achieve homicidus interruptus.

307 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 26, 2019

Reviews

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW!

In this, his third murder mystery, Jeff Lockwood hits his stride early, and forces his characters into a marathon of action that rarely slows down.
Reading the previous two books puts additional depth to the main characters, but is not vital. Reading this book first may very well send you in search of the first books.
The book explores some disturbing features of humanity, both in its general form and in specific individuals. The plot is well-developed, the characters interactions ranging from gentle to devastating, all the way to fatal.
Grab it now. He's probably writing another, and I know I need to be caught up when it comes out.

[Elsa Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riley, the exterminator mystery. Fiction intertwined with non-fiction. What is normal, what is within the limits of human tolerance, and what should be stopped because the character’s actions cross lines into realms that harm others. This story begins in one direction and then goes into another—it played some tricks on my psyche. Each character had some qualities that were beyond what the world considers normal. I learned a lot about insects in unexpected ways. There are many things going on beyond a noir mystery and a who-done-it story. This is the third book of a series, I haven’t read the others, and I kept up with the content. Good stand-alone.