Review by Booklist Review
Fifteen years ago, Jan Henning-Klosner (the "Ranier Ripper") claimed three victims in the town of Ranier, a quaint highway stop between Sydney and Melbourne. Now a new route has drained Ranier's traffic, making the Ripper their biggest attraction, so Lochlan Lewis has pitched a Ripper crime tour to capitalize on that business. But while the victims' families and business leaders meet to debate the idea, Lochlan is murdered. It's baffling: the murder bears the Ripper's hallmarks, but he's in prison. Gemma Guillory is already in desperate straits when the investigation closes her tea shop, so she resolves to speed things up with her own investigation. Meanwhile, Jan Henning-Klosner's health is failing, and fellow prisoner Lane Holland (introduced in Wake, 2022) uses his private investigation training to resolve lingering questions about the Ripper murders. Lane reaches out from prison to give Gemma insights that blow the Ripper lore apart and expose the secrets too many people in Ranier have tied up in the Ripper's murders. Cozy, with a smidgen of grit, this logic-driven, psychological thriller untangles desperate motives.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
