A few days before Christmas and during one of the worst snow storms to hit Rome, police detective Nic Costa and his partner, Gianni Peroni, answer an alarm at the historic Pantheon to discover a gruesome murder. A woman's naked body has been carefully posed in the center of the marble floor. She's been strangled and has a horrific carving, eventually identified as the Sacred Cut, over her back. The detectives soon find that the awful weather is not the only thing they are going to have to carefully maneuver through as they search for an international serial killer. The case gets even more bizarre as the American embassy, the FBI and members of the Italian police hierarchy become involved.

British author David Hewson has written a spellbinding novel of suspense with a myriad cast of interesting and realistic characters in a masterfully written and intricately detailed plot. With his deft hand, Hewson skillfully makes the weather and the entire setting of Rome important pieces of the storyline. Long passages of descriptive narrative may at times slow the reading down some, but the action is never far away. This is an intelligently crafted book that will take some concentration on the reader's part to keep up with all the surprising twists and turns and the many people involved in the unfolding plot, but the final resolution is nothing short of exemplary. THE SACRED CUT is Hewson's third Nic Costa novel with the fourth, THE LIZARD'S BITE, set for hardcover release October 31, 2006. (Be sure to check out the author's web site for more insight into this series and his research.)