Body Parts

December 15, 2003
Drawing inspiration from the likes of Mary Higgins Clark and Sue Grafton, Stiefel creates a tenacious but vulnerable heroine in Massachusetts homicide counselor Tally Whyte, who narrates this tale about a serial killer nicknamed the Harvester. After killing his prey, many of whom are Whyte's friends or colleagues, the Harvester collects a bloody souvenir from each victim, a tell-tale sign of why he targeted that specific woman. In the case of a flautist, it's her hands; a dancer, her feet; a Hawaiian beauty, her skin. As a grief counselor who works with cops and attorneys, Whyte sometimes finds herself crossing over to investigator. When it becomes clear through her counseling sessions that the prime suspect, a downtrodden and angry African-American named Roland Blessing, isn't the Harvester, Whyte sets out to find the killer herself, donning a disguise and eventually encountering the Harvester in a shocking and gruesome finale. Stiefel (wife of author William G. Tapply) consulted with experts in the field to create a credible portrayal of a homicide counselor's life, and she succeeds admirably. But this debut novel suffers from an overabundance of incidental characters and Whyte's self-pitying tendencies.