The Art of Dying: A Ray Hanley Crime Thriller

Cavignano’s twisty, gory crime thriller pits a dogged Boston police detective against a savage murderer. When the mutilated corpse of Danny the Mule, an Irish mob soldier, turns up in an abandoned quarry, Det. Ray Hanley takes the case. Danny disappeared a month earlier, and the nature of the mutilations (his penis was severed and grafted to his face) leads Hanley to doubt his colleagues’ view that the killing was related to a gang war between the city’s Italian and Irish organized crime factions. Cavignano ratchets up the tension by alternating between Hanley’s investigation, which points to some of Boston’s most powerful political leaders, and scenes depicting the killer, the self-described Artist, who gloats over other people he’s captured and tortured, and muses out loud about how he butchered them. Hanley must also deal with threats to his job and a crisis in his personal life. The satisfying final reveal is a testament to the author’s cleverness. Fans of Jeffrey Burton will be pleased. (Self-published)