As head of Edinburgh's CID, Bob Skinner has seen it all, but even he is shocked by the mutilated corpse discovered in a dark alleyway. The motive for the brutal murder remains a mystery, until an elaborate smokescreen emerges which shrouds an intricate conspiracy.
The body of a prostitute is discovered in Glasgow's Queen Street Station, sparking a murder hunt that focuses on the city's seamier side. But when the body of a young nurse is found in a private clinic, with her corpse positioned in an identical way to that of the first victim, DCI Lorimer and psychologist, Solomon Brightman, must decide if this is the work of a serial killer...
Keller has an unpleasant job to do. He does it very well but does not particularly enjoy killing people. Keller does evil work but is actually a nice, apparently normal guy who readers can’t help but root for. Keller is now looking forward to retirement with his beloved stamp collecting hobby when he reluctantly agrees to “the last job.”
It is a truism of noir fiction that the bad guys are often more fun than the good. This certainly holds true for Keller. Keller is the type of reserved, good-natured, nondescript fellow you might find yourself sitting next to during a business flight to Detroit. He'll tell you about his stamp collection, but will not talk much about his business because his business is murdering people for a fee.
He's a passionate stamp collector who likes art and dogs and who shows up for jury duty when he's called. He lives in Manhattan and, when packages of approval stamps come from dealers all over the country, he goes through the stamps in a couple of days, selects the ones he wants and returns the ones he doesn't along with a check for those he's selected and a handwritten note for the dealer. What's difficult to reconcile is what Keller does for a living. He's a hit man. Less euphemistically: he kills people for money.
