The Crypt Thief

March 11, 2013
Two young lovers make the fatal mistake of sneaking into Paris’s Père Lachaise Cemetery the same night as a bone-stealing psychopath, in Pryor’s propulsive second novel starring affable former FBI profiler Hugo Marston (after 2012’s The Bookseller). Because one victim is a U.S. senator’s son, the potentially explosive case lands in the laps of Hugo, now the U.S. embassy’s security chief, and his friend Tom Green, a semiretired CIA spook, at a time when their relationship is strained by Tom’s alcoholism. And if they have any hope of stopping—and surviving—the stone-cold killer dubbed the Scarab by Hugo, because of the glass beetle charms he leaves at each ransacked grave, they will both need to be at the top of their game. The engaging characters sweep readers into a suspenseful chase from Pigalle to the Pyrenées, marred only by the Scarab’s overkill as he pursues his Grand Guignol fantasy of revenge, death, and reincarnation. Agent: Ann Collette, Rees Literary Agency.

May 1, 2013

When two young people (one the son of a U.S. senator and the other a Pakistani woman) are shot dead in a Paris cemetery, the American Embassy brings in security expert Hugo to investigate. The senator is convinced terrorism is behind the murder, but a second incident at the cemetery--a grave robbery--causes Hugo to question that connection. His instincts are proved correct when he learns that the Pakistani victim was a professional dancer and that the grave robbery was of the remains of a famed Moulin Rouge dancer. While Hugo applies his profiling skills to the case, other investigators want to track down another Pakistani as a person of interest. Collateral damage ensues. Meanwhile, a warped individual is systematically trying to reconstruct a living being. He's on a tight time line though, and Hugo must outfox the serial killer soon. VERDICT Pryor's second case for Marston (after The Bookseller) doesn't disappoint. The crazed serial killer leads readers into the darkest regions of Paris, making it a good bet for Cara Black fans.

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2013
The quest for a serial killer who robs graves is complicated by his first victims. The son of a U.S. senator and a Pakistani woman with a fake Egyptian passport are shot in a Paris cemetery, where the bones of a prominent dancer also are stolen. The Pakistani woman is linked to a man on terrorist watch lists, which raises fears of potential terrorism at the American embassy, although chief of security Hugo Marston, an exFBI profiler, finds it merely coincidental. With the primary terrorist threat being pursued by former CIA agent Tom Green, Marston works with French police captain Raul Garcia to hunt the killer they call Scarab and determine his motives. At the same time, Marston worries about Green's heavy drinking, wondering whether he can trust his best friend and former colleague as he once did. This is a more assured narrative than Pryor's debut (The Bookseller, 2012), with good character development, increasing levels of action and suspense, a complex and deranged antagonist, andonce againappealing Paris settings. The Hugo Marston series now belongs on every espionage fan's watch list.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)