Clean Cut

Theresa Monsour's first crime novel introduces the female detective Paris Murphy.

Paris Murphy, half-Irish, half-Lebanese, is extremely good at her job, though far less successful in her private life, which is a mess: she's got an on/off marriage to an ER doctor, a looming affair with a colleague in the forensic department and a mother who always calls at the worst possible moment. Tracking down killers is a far more attractive proposition than tidying up her own affairs and her latest investigation is gripping.

The murder of a prostitute in St. Paul's is the latest in a series of killings, and the police are sure they know who they are after - a successful plastic surgeon, scion of a powerful local family - and it is up to Paris and her partner, Gabe, to prove their case. But hard evidence is hard to come by until Paris herself attracts the killer's attention . . .