Silent Mercy by Linda Faristein 384 pages

“Silent Mercy” is the next installment in the story of Alex Cooper, a New York ADA in the Special Victims division. Alex and her police sidekicks are called to the horrific scene of a decapitated body on the steps of a very old church on the edge of Harlem. Strangely, all gates into church property are barred and rescue workers are unable to get to the body. So, how did the murderer get the body over the tall fence to the steps and back over again to make his escape? As usual, Fairstein’s story begins with the unusual and, as Alex and the police begin to try to unravel the mystery, they find connections to churches, religions, and leprosy with city politics mixed in to cause roadblocks and confusion. I like Linda Fairstein’s books because they grab your interest from the beginning and they are not easy to solve ahead of the writer. “Silent Mercy” is one of the best.