At What Cost
A Detective Penley Mystery
-
- $18.99
-
- $18.99
Publisher Description
What would you do to save your child?
Detective John Penley and his new partner, Detective Paula Newberry, of the Sacramento Police Department are tasked with leading the investigation into a local serial killer who has dumped three bodies in the past six weeks—and all of them are missing their internal organs. But while pursuing a lead, the detectives stumble upon a personal message the killer left behind for Penley. And it's attached to a human kidney.
How could the killer know Penley's son is on the kidney transplant waiting list? Now Penley's baited into an impossible trap that could jeopardize his entire career. Will the detective take down the killer and place his faith in the medical establishment to heal his son? Or, will he make a deal with the devil for the transplant organ his son needs to live?
At What Cost, James L'Etoile's engrossing new mystery, is a heart-stopping thrill ride that will keep readers guessing at every turn. Fans of Michael Connelly and Thomas Perry won't be able to put this down.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of L'Etoile's nail-biting debut starring Det. John Penley of the Sacramento, Calif., PD, a unique gang tattoo identifies a headless and limbless torso as belonging to gang member Daniel Cardozo. Two members of different gangs were previously similarly murdered, leading Penley to conclude that a serial killer, dubbed the Outcast Killer, is at large. Later, at an abandoned warehouse where a chicken has been sacrificed, the police find a circle of melted candles and chalk drawings clearly replicating Daniel's tattoo. Locked metal cabinets at the scene, when opened, contain a kidney on ice, which serves as a direct message from the killer to Penley, whose teenage son, Tommy, is awaiting a kidney from the transplant list. After the killer contacts Penley via the Internet asking for $10,000 to procure a kidney for Tommy, the detective, unwilling to pay the ransom, races to outwit the fiend before Tommy becomes another one of his victims. L'Etoile, who has served as an associate prison warden, keeps the suspense high throughout.
