Robert Randisi, Arch Angels

Arch Angels

Robert Randisi

Dunne, Mar 2004, $24.95, 352 pp.

ISBN: 0312308787

So far the victims are all between the ages of eight and ten. The three strangled in St. Louis were female: in Chicago three boys were murdered in the same manner. Every couple of days a killing occurs. The police in both cities remain baffled over whether there is one culprit, two in tandem, or an originator and a copy cat as the I-55 serial killings of these little angels leave law enforcement officials feeling helpless and distraught.

Federal Service Killer Task Force Detective Joe Keough flies to St. Louis while his partner Harriet Connors travels to Chicago to help with the inquiries. The local cops are irate that these superstar outsider hired guns are perching in their territory, but that does not stop Joe and Harriet from taking over much of the investigations. Soon the DC based duo finds twin suspects, but are they the "divine" driven killers or is there something even more diabolical behind the serial murders of the angelic children?

Though Joe and Harriet are an interesting duo whose teamwork makes this serial killer investigation work as the latest of what seems like the zillionth serial killer novel offers quite a stretch of a solution to the murders. The story line moves at a leisurely pace more suited to a cozy belying that a killing machine or two is preying on the preadolescent populace. The territoriality of the local police seems genuine though one would hope that they would welcome outside expertise. ARCH ANGELS is a solid tale, but the climax and the feel that they have all the time in the world to stop the culprit(s) takes away from the latest Keogh tale.

Harriet Klausner