GARDEN OF EVIL

“HEADLESS DRIVER CRASHES AFTER WILD MILE RIDE,” shrieks the Miami News headline introducing Britt Montero’s latest story. But that story’s only a curtain-raiser for the veteran crime reporter’s most monstrous case to date. It all begins with the murder of a Shelby County sheriff who evidently got a little too friendly with a female prisoner who fled their brief encounter with his sidearm, several boxes of expanding bullets, and a determination to keep on trucking. A trail of corpses marks the Kiss-Me Killer’s path to Miami, and the murder of an all-too-deserving local politician signals her arrival. When the killer phones her office and asks for an interview, Britt’s ready to drop everything—even her investigation of Althea Moran’s fears that her life is in danger—to make contact. It’s a decision that will end up spelling disaster for Britt, several innocent bystanders, and even Althea. Nor is it such a great deal for readers hungry for more of the quirky, colorful vignettes of big-city crime Buchanan (Margin of Error, 1997, etc.) does better than anyone else alive. Instead, as bravely but less successfully than in Pulse (1998), the Pulitzer-winning Miami News reporter leaves her unchallenged home turf for straight suspense with a moralizing edge (what makes the Kiss-Me Killer tick?) that she can’t quite pull off. Alas, both the case Britt follows and the one she drops end not with a bang but a whimper.