Come to Harm

Keiko Nishisato, the heroine of this grisly standalone from Edgar-finalist McPherson (The Day She Died), has traveled from Tokyo to Scotland to work toward her doctorate at an Edinburgh university. She has received funding from a mysterious source, as well as free accommodation in the small village of Painchton. Her apartment is less than salubrious, with horrible British plumbing in the bathroom and a vile smell emanating from the kitchen drain. Keiko soon finds herself more fascinated by the locals than by her studies, with their strange idiomatic speech and obsession with meat, from tripe to steak pies. When Keiko discovers an anonymous threat lodged under her radiator, she begins to wonder exactly what happened to the apartment’s previous occupant. Some sleuthing reveals that several local girls have gone missing from the village. It becomes quickly apparent where the plot is headed, leaving little room for the element of surprise. [em]Agent: Lisa Moylett, Coombs Moylett Literary Agency. (May) [/em]