Review: The Crypt Thief by Mark Pryor

A Mysterious Review of …

The Crypt Thief by Mark Pryor. A Hugo Marston Mystery.

Review summary: The premise for this police procedural is quite creative, providing a credible environment of misdirection for the authorities, if not the reader. The hallmark of the story is the central character, a man able to keep his attention focused on the matter at hand all the while his colleagues are seeking justice elsewhere. All in all, an exciting, fast-paced crime story. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

The Crypt Thief
Mark Pryor
A Hugo Marston Mystery
Seventh Street Books (May 2013)

Publisher synopsis: It's summer in Paris and two tourists have been killed in Père La Chaise cemetery in front of Jim Morrison's grave. The killer leaves the bodies untouched but moves deeper into the cemetery, where he breaks into the crypt of a long-dead Moulin Rouge dancer. In a bizarre twist, he disappears into the night with part of her skeleton. The cemetery is locked down and put under surveillance, but the thief returns, flitting in and out like a ghost, taking more bones from another legendary can-can dancer under cover of night.

One of the dead tourists proves to be an American and the other a woman linked to a known terrorist; so the US ambassador sends his best man and the embassy's head of security — Hugo Marston — to help the French police with their investigation.

At first, Hugo is stumped. How does this killer operate unseen? And why is he stealing the bones of once-famous can-can girls? Hugo cracks the secrets of the graveyard, but soon realizes that old bones aren't all this serial killer wants: his ultimate plan requires the flesh and organs of the living. And when the crypt thief spots the former FBI agent on his tail, he decides that Hugo's body will do just fine.