In this crime thriller, a copy editor at a major newspaper
is found hanging in the printing department. Suicide or
murder? UNPUNISHED is the second in the Gardiner and
Renner series about a crime scene technician and
forensics
expert, Maggie Gardiner, and homicide detective Jack
Renner. They arrive at the modern Cleveland Herald building
on the shores of Lake Erie and Maggie quickly spots
evidence that murder was involved. From then on it's Jack's
job to investigate.
With news shifting to digital media, and social networks
spreading breaking news and comments fast, old-fashioned
print news is suffering. The standards set by professional
journalists are strict, and research and authentication
means that only genuine news should be spread. Advertising
is what pays their wages though, and fewer people buy a
physical newspaper. Was any of this enough to make Robert
Davids either kill himself or be killed? The police think
it unlikely. Murder is usually personal.
As well as the now-routine autopsy scene I found pretty
much an autopsy of the print news industry. Papers are
being bought up and closed, the online sections providing
far fewer jobs. Robert Davids' job was precarious. His
marriage suffered from the strain and he argued with
colleagues. The news he worked on seems less serious, just
local stories and nothing worth killing for. Corporate
press doesn't pay for investigative work any more,
preferring cheap content. The police have to wonder if
they missed anything that wasn't left lying around the
office, any contact on the man's still-missing cellphone.
This isn't the only crime in town of course, and a drugs
related shooting has Maggie suspecting someone she knows.
In an ominous move, a policeman may be taking the law into
his own hands. This novel brings gritty reality into the
living room, showing serious crime in domestic and work
situations, with gruesome details which may make some
readers shiver. In some cases there can be little to choose
between a crime thriller and a horror. I tried to get to
know Maggie and Jack but found little of their personal
lives on offer. Lisa Black has written a detail-laden, up
to the moment tale in UNPUNISHED which deals with issues we
need to understand. Serious crime fans will swallow it
whole.
It begins with the kind of bizarre death that makes
headlines—literally. A copy editor at the Cleveland Herald
is found hanging above the grinding wheels of the newspaper
assembly line, a wide strap wrapped around his throat.
Forensic investigator Maggie Gardiner has her suspicions
about this apparent suicide inside the tsunami of tensions
that is the news industry today—and when the evidence
suggests murder, Maggie has no choice but to place her trust
in the one person she doesn’t trust at all . . .
Jack Renner is a killer with a conscience, a vigilante with
his own code of honor. In the past, Jack has used his skills
and connections as a homicide detective to take the law into
his own hands, all in the name of justice. He has only one
problem: Maggie knows his secret. She insists he enforce the
law, not subvert it. But when more newspaper employees are
slain, Jack may be the only person who can help Maggie
unmask the killer-- even if Jack is still checking names off
his own private murder list.
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