No Less The Devil by Stuart MacBride

 

Things aren't going well for Detective Sergeant Lucy McVeigh.  The serial killer The Bloodsmith has been killing people for eighteen months and the police are no closer to catching him.  Lucy has just come back to work recently after a horrific episode that impacted her life and shook her confidence in her ability to protect herself and her friends.  

But she is back at work and with the help of her partner, the Dunc, determined to make progress and finally catch the serial killer.  He seems to be targeting those who won't, for whatever reason, be missed.  Some of his victims are male, some female.  Some are homeless, some are wealthy but all are separate islands who keep to themselves.  

In her investigation, Lucy is faced with a private school that only takes the best and brightest.  She had a chance to attend there, but her father couldn't afford the fees so she went another way.  But it is bittersweet to see what she could have had and how her life would have been different if she had attended there.  She also finds a professor at another college who ran a study about loneliness.  Then there are the perverts the police know about and the knowledge that for every one they know about, there are many more who have escaped the notice of the law.  Can Lucy and Dunc find the killer before another murder occurs?

Readers are familiar with Stuart MacBride for his Logan McRae series and most will still have their loyalty to him.  But Lucy McVeigh is a new character with her own backstory and ability to cut through police red tape to follow her instincts and find killers.  I loved her sidekick and hope he gets more story in the next chapter of this series.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.