John Lutz Bundle (119 page)
Authors: John Lutz
A month later, Quinn was sitting at an outside table of a West Side restaurant nursing some kind of overpriced latte that was actually pretty good. An old woman sat at the table opposite his. She had three precisely aligned narrow gouges in her left cheek where her cat had clawed her. If that’s what had happened. If the woman even owned a cat. Quinn never got tired of observing people in New York and trying to read them.
A signal changed and traffic streamed past in the street only ten feet away, raising the noise level and leaving a low-lying haze of exhaust fumes. Pedestrians hurried along the sidewalk, occasionally bumping and shoving at each other in the narrowed space between restaurant railing and curb.
Quinn smiled. He knew that sooner or later one of those pedestrians would be Pearl. She was supposed to meet him here in five minutes for lunch.
Pearl was doing well since her release from the hospital. Last week she’d even begun working again as a guard at the bank. She continued to attract and befuddle Quinn, and he knew she always would.
Quinn glanced at the
Times
folded on the table. In it he’d read with satisfaction that the latest polls showed Harley Renz was the most popular police commissioner in the city’s history. There actually were rumors concerning a mayoral bid, most of them probably generated by Renz. Quinn figured Renz had come out of the Torso Murders case better than anyone.
Fedderman had also come out okay. He was back in Florida, continuing his uneasy retirement, waiting for another call from Quinn. From time to time he sent Quinn citrus fruit.
Palmer Stone and Gloria Lamping had lawyered up, but in truth they were helpless now. The system had them in its teeth, and the system would shake them and chew them to a fineness that was nothing.
Two weeks ago the dead body of Maria Sanchez had been discovered in a bathtub in a Tijuana motel. Her tongue had been cut out and her mouth stuffed with cocaine.
The Torso Murders had ceased.
Jill Clark had reclaimed her life.
Quinn noticed a bobbing, dark-haired head in the oncoming stream of pedestrians and stood up so he could be seen.
He grinned. Pearl was here.
Don’t miss John Lutz’s next spine-tingling thriller…
Coming from Pinnacle in October 2009!
“Lutz’s skill will keep you glued to this thick thriller.”
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
on
Night Kills
“Superb suspense…the kind of book that makes you check to see if all the doors and windows are locked.”
—
Affaire de Coeur,
on
Night Kills
“Brilliant…a very scary and suspenseful read.”
—
Booklist,
on
In for the Kill
“Enthralling…Shamus and Edgar award-winner Lutz gives us further proof of his enormous talent.”
—
Publishers Weekly,
on
In for the Kill
“Since Lutz can deliver a hard-boiled PI novel or a bloody thriller with equal ease, it’s not a surprise to find him applying his skills to a police procedural in
Chill of Night
. But the ingenuity of the plot shows that Lutz is in rare form.”
—
The New York Times Book Review,
on
Chill of Night
“Lutz keeps the suspense high…An ideal beach read.”
—
Publishers Weekly,
on
Chill of Night
“A dazzling tour de force…compelling, absorbing…Lutz ranks with such vintage masters of big-city murder as Lawrence Block and the late Ed McBain.”
—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch,
on
Chill of Night
“A great read! Lutz kept me in suspense right up to the end.”
—
Midwest Book Review,
on
Chill of Night
“A tense, fast-moving novel, a plot-driven page-turner of the first order.”
—
Book Page,
on
Fear the Night
“A shrewd and clever novel that delivers thrills as seen through totally believable and convincing characters. John Lutz is one of the masters of the police novel. Highly recommended!”
—Ridley Pearson, on
Fear the Night
“A twisted cat-and-mouse game…a fast-moving crime thriller…Lutz skillfully brings to life the sniper’s various victims.”
—
Publishers Weekly,
on
Fear the Night
“Night Victims
is compelling, suspenseful, and—dare I say it?—creepy. John Lutz knows how to make you shiver.”
—Harlan Coben
“A heart-pounding roller coaster of a tale, whose twists and turns are made all the more compelling by the complex, utterly real characters populating his world.”
—Jeffery Deaver, on
Night Victims
“I’ve been a fan of John Lutz for years.”
—T. Jefferson Parker
“John Lutz is a major talent.”
—John Lescroart
“John Lutz knows how to ratchet up the terror with effective twists and a fast pace.”
—
Sun-Sentinel
(Ft. Lauderdale), on
Night Victims
“Compelling…a gritty psychological thriller.”
—
Publishers Weekly,
on
The Night Watcher
“John Lutz is the new Lawrence Sanders.”
—Ed Gorman in
Mystery Scene,
on
The Night Watcher
“SWF Seeks Same
is a complex, riveting, and chilling portrayal of urban terror, as well as a wonderful novel of New York City. Echoes of
Rosemary’s Baby,
but this one’s scarier because it could happen.”
—Jonathan Kellerman
“John Lutz just keeps getting better and better.”
—Tony Hillerman, on
SWF Seeks Same
“For a good scare and a well-paced story, Lutz delivers.”
—
San Antonio Express News
“Lutz is among the best.”
—
San Diego Union
“Lutz is rapidly bleeding critics dry of superlatives.”
—
St. Louis Post Dispatch
“It’s easy to see why he’s won an Edgar and two Shamuses.”
—
Publishers Weekly
“Lutz is a fine craftsman.”
—
Booklist
“Likable protagonists in a complex thriller…Lutz always delivers the goods, and this is no exception.”
—
Booklist,
on
Final Seconds
“Clever cat-and-mouse game.”
—
Kirkus Reviews,
on
Final Seconds
Night Victims
Night Kills
In for the Kill
Chill of Night
Fear the Night
Darker Than Night
The Night Watcher
The Night Caller
Final Seconds
(with David August)
The Ex
Available from Kensington Publishing Corp. and Pinnacle Books
For Barbara,
As they all are
And to the memory of
John Mangosing,
A good friend gone too soon