Blood Ties

This goose bump–inducing thriller from Guild (Angel) pits San Francisco PD detective Ellen Ridley, revolted by the horrors of her job yet constantly wearing an Ice Queen face, against a vicious and inventive serial killer, who lures susceptible women to ever more horrific deaths. Ellen feels her dedication to avenging these victims is swallowing her whole life, until she falls hard for an elegant and enigmatic computer genius, Stephen Tregear, who’s locked in a years-long mutual hunt with the killer—Stephen’s own renegade father, who’s determined to slay Stephen himself. The gentle romance between Ellen and Stephen parallels the investigation that her senior police partner, Sam, gradually shifts onto Ellen’s shoulders, allowing her to develop professionally while Sam approaches the climax of his own career. Guild’s drop-dead characterizations of police men and women, his perfect-pitch dialogue, and the serpentine coils of a plot that’s absorbing and shocking support this unusually convincing combination of romance and homicide. Agent: Al Zuckerman, Writers House. (May)