The Red Scream

by Mary Willis Walker Narrated by Anna Fields

Overview

Texas-based crime reporter Molly Cates has just**published her first book, describing the**blood-curdling exploits of serial killer Louie Bronk. Now on**death row, Louie's sentence is about to be carried**out. Molly will be there as a witness, and she**wants to write about it--the final coda to Louie's**story. But suddenly, she's being strongly**discouraged by her boss at the Lone Star**Monthly and by Charlie McFarland, the millionaire**real estate developer whose first wife, Tiny, was**Bronk's most famous victim--and the only one whose**murder is a capital offense. Then Molly starts to**receive dark hints that Louie may not have killed**Tiny after all. There is another murder following**Louis's M.O.--one he could not have committed.**The veracity of Molly's book is threatened--and then**her very life. Caught between a rock and a hard**place, Molly realizes that by attempting to save**Louis she is putting her own life on the line, and**discrediting her own work. Mary Willis Walker brings**a lusty new voice to the mystery scene. Already**recognized for her first novel, she has now created**a character just cheeky and gusty enough to take**her place among the top ranks of female**protagonists such as Kinsey Millhone and Kay Scarpetta.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Walker's second well-wrought mystery, following her Agatha-winning Zero at the Bone , will add to her following. Molly Cates, a crime writer in Austin, Tex., is planning to cover the execution of doggerel-writing serial murderer Louie Bronk, whose five-year killing spree is the subject of Molly's recently published book. But Charlie McFarland, whose wealthy wife, Tiny, was Louie's last victim and who has since remarried, wants the past left buried, suggesting fresh publicity will threaten the stability of his grown daughter, who was 11 at the time of her mother's murder. Next, an anonymous note to Molly warns, in verse, ``Now that Louie's doomed to die / I may give his craft a try.'' Arriving at the McFarland house for a meeting, Molly stumbles on the corpse of Charlie's second wife, Georgia. The police--including Molly's attractive and still interested ex-husband, Grady Traynor--are eying Charlie and his grown children with suspicion when Louie issues an explosive statement that raises questions about Tiny's death and compels Molly to take a hard look at the investigative work she has done. The finale, in which Molly is almost killed, is somewhat gratuitous, but that aside, Molly and her disturbing subject command the reader's rapt attention. (Aug.)

Library Journal

Obsessed crime reporter Molly Cates (Zero at the Bone, St. Martin's, 1991) scrambles to put the finishing touches on her coverage of a Texas serial murderer about to be executed. Just as she contacts a prominent Austin family victimized by the killer, however, murder strikes down the second wife in exactly the same way as it did the first. Horrified, Molly leans on the detective in charge (one of her ex-husbands, if not exactly a best friend), who advises her to leave well enough alone. A very well-written and plausibly plotted second effort, much deserving of purchase.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940172169892
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	05/19/2009
Edition description:	Unabridged

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