cover image When First We Deceive

When First We Deceive

Charles Wilson. Carroll & Graf Publishers, $19.95 (264pp) ISBN 978-0-7867-0058-5

Steadily accelerating suspense, deft plotting and a broad cast of likely suspects highlight Wilson's ( Night watch er ; The Cassandra Prophecy ) latest crime thriller. In tiny Pass Christian, Miss., police officers Paige and Brett Dunnigan are headed toward Biloxi and a first wedding anniversary celebration when the report of a prowler sends them to the home of Brett's old girlfriend. There Brett stumbles over the still warm, nearly decapitated body of Tiffany Anderson. The area is immediately overrun by local law enforcement agencies and the FBI, all hoping to collar the elusive psychopath responsible for a rash of murders of young women along the Gulf Coast. Brett's longtime buddy Vic, a former cop turned PI who has been hired by the wife of a New Orleans man murdered with one of the mutilated victims, is also on the scene. As clues are bungled or lost, it soon appears that the killer may be a cop. While Brett harbors guilt at not telling Paige about a chance rendezvous with Tiffany just before their marriage or of his recent encounter with her in the supermarket, Paige disappears, and suspicion then focuses on Brett, who must solve the murder to save his life. (June)