Play Dead

by RichardMontanari (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2008

  $3.30

  Philadelphia homicide detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano's first assignment from the Cold Case files is the gruesome murder of a young girl in the Philadelphia Badlands, a bleak and desolate area of crime and depravity. Carefully posed, the lifeless girl is perfectly framed in a square window. Soon another Badlands runaway is found viciously murdered, this time arranged on the roof of a building shaped like a triangle. And as the victims add up, each body tells an increasingly grisly story. A seemingly unrelated crime scene leads Byrne and Balzano to an eccentric older woman who introduces them to a Tangram puzzle, an ancient code of shapes. When the woman takes her own life, she leaves behind a cryptic clue, a word composed of four worn Scrabble tiles: LUDO, the Latin word for game. There is a foul breath of evil blowing through these murderous geometric puzzles and as more runaways vanish and more shapes are revealed, Byrne and Balzano soon realize that the homicidal mastermind plans to complete all seven forms of his dark and twisted Tangram puzzle. Unless they can stop him first.

• Used

  Paperback
  2009

  $3.30

  In each soul, a secret ...Philadelphia homicide detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano's first assignment from the Cold Case files is the brutal murder of a young runaway. The lifeless body of Caitlin O'Riordan was found carefully posed in a glass display case in the desolate Philadelphia Badlands but, as Byrne and Balzano rapidly discover, she was just the first pawn in the killer's twisted game...A mysterious phone call leads them on a scavenger hunt for a second victim. This time a young girl has been dismembered, her body parts left in three boxes in the basement of a deserted house. More clues lead to other victims and, as the body count rises, it becomes clear that there is a serial killer on the loose, hell-bent on completing the 'performance' of a lifetime. As more runaways vanish, Byrne and Balzano come to realize that the homicidal mastermind plans to complete seven depraved tricks in his dark and dangerous magic act. With Balzano increasingly obsessed by a case that haunts her, and Byrne struggling with a loss of his own, the stakes are mounting. But this is one game they can't afford to lose...

• Used

  Hardcover
  2008

  $3.30

  In each soul, a secret ...Philadelphia homicide detectives Kevin Byrne and Jessica Balzano's first assignment from the Cold Case files is the brutal murder of a young runaway. The lifeless body of Caitlin O'Riordan was found carefully posed in a glass display case in the desolate Philadelphia Badlands but, as Byrne and Balzano rapidly discover, she was just the first pawn in the killer's twisted game...A mysterious phone call leads them on a scavenger hunt for a second victim. This time a young girl has been dismembered, her body parts left in three boxes in the basement of a deserted house. More clues lead to other victims and, as the body count rises, it becomes clear that there is a serial killer on the loose, hell-bent on completing the 'performance' of a lifetime.As more runaways vanish, Byrne and Balzano come to realize that the homicidal mastermind plans to complete seven depraved tricks in his dark and dangerous magic act. With Balzano increasingly obsessed by a case that haunts her, and Byrne struggling with a loss of his own, the stakes are mounting. But this is one game they can't afford to lose...