A Killing Breath: A Raven Burns Tale

Snowden’s brooding third gothic mystery featuring Raven Burns (after A Killing Rain) finds the emotionally damaged Louisiana detective investigating the possibility that a serial killer is on the loose in her hometown of Byrd’s Landing. The daughter of serial killer Floyd “Fire” Burns, Raven has made a career of tracking down murderers, both in her previous post as a New Orleans homicide detective and in her current job with the Byrd’s Landing police. Ever since Floyd died by suicide in prison, his ghost has been haunting Raven (“The image of him dying sharpened and layered blood and gore over her daily life”). When a spate of axe murders rocks Byrd’s Landing, Raven becomes convinced that another serial killer is at large, though she struggles to identify a link connecting the victims, among them a doctor and a local police officer. Her search for clues reawakens unwelcome memories, including of Floyd’s murder of an elderly woman when Raven was a child, that prove crucial to solving the current case. Raven’s fear that she shares her father’s ruthlessness lends the novel thorny emotional stakes, and Snowden excels at conjuring a swampy Southern atmosphere. Attica Locke fans should check this out. (Mar.)