A Litter Of Bones by J D Kirk

 

The biggest case of DCI Jack Logan's career was his capture of serial killer "Mister Whisper" ten years ago.  Mister  Whisper targeted small boys and when he was captured, he confessed to the murder of three boys.  Logan was able to get him to confess where the bodies of two of them were hidden and return the bodies to their families but before he could get the information on the last boy, Mister Whisper was involved in an accident that left him in a mental hospital, uncommunicative.  Logan believes the man is faking his mental state and visits him periodically to try to get the location of the last boy's remains.

But now, another boy has been taken.  It's a hundred miles north of Glasgow where the earlier murders occurred but the case is so similar that Logan is sent north to head up the investigation.  Is this a copycat?  An admirer of Mister Whisper?  As the investigation turns up more and more similarities, rumors start to circulate that perhaps the man captured ten years ago wasn't the real Mister Whisper and that Logan may have gotten the wrong man.  Can he find the lost boy and find the killer before time runs out?

This is my first book by author J D Kirk but it won't be my last.  Logan is haunted by the past investigation and determined to do right by this new victim and those from the past.  His interaction with the new team is instructive as he picks out those detectives who show signs of promise and mentors them.  The writing has times of humor, reminiscent of other Scottish crime writers like Stuart MacBride.  This book is recommended for mystery readers and especially fans of police procedurals and Scottish noir.