The Silenced Women

Frederick Weisel

Feb 2021 · Violent Crime Investigations Team Mystery Book 1 · Sourcebooks, Inc.

About this ebook

Who will speak for those who no longer can?

When a young woman is found strangled to death and left on a park bench in Santa Rosa, California, Detective Eddie Mahler and his Violent Crime Investigations Team are called to the scene. The crime immediately thrusts Mahler back to two unsolved homicides—young women who were also strangled—at this same location a couple of years earlier. He knows who was responsible, but his inability to find evidence to stop the serial killer has haunted him ever since.

Now suffering from chronic migraines that affect his vision, Mahler has secretly lost faith in the investigation process, and must rely more than ever on his team. Its newest member, Eden Somers, is a former FBI analyst whose ability to completely immerse herself in the evidence of a case proves both a gift and a curse. While Eden dives deep into the cold case evidence, the rest of the team chase leads to identify the latest victim, and discover that her death might be the work of a new killer altogether.

Now Mahler and his team are fighting on two fronts to discover who stole the very breath from these women, and to stop the killer before he silences another victim.

Introducing the Violent Crime Investigations Team, a modern series of hardboiled crime fiction, taking on the very worst of California crime.

Ratings and reviews

4.5★s The Silenced Women is the first book in the Violent Crime Investigations Team series by American author, Frederick Weisel. When a young woman’s body is found in Santa Rosa’s Spring Lake Park, the Police Department’s Violent Crime Investigations Team is immediately reminded of earlier murders: two young women, found in the Park, seventy-two hours apart, two years previous. The townspeople are understandably uneasy, worried there will be a repeat. Back then, Lieutenant Eddie Mahler and his now-retired mentor, Tommy Woodhouse were convinced of the guilt of their main suspect, but their evidence was too weak and, despite his history of violence against women, Irwin Partridge was never charged. Now it’s up to Eddie to get a quick result, before the worst happens. The VCI Team has veteran detective, Daniel Rivas, whose an incredible memory has served them well, Martin Coyle, an IT whiz, and some new talent: Steve Frames is an ex-Marine; Eden Somers is an FBI-trained analyst. Eddie wants her to study the earlier murders, certain they will be linked to this one. Not everyone on his Team agrees, though, and Eden hears grumbles about mismanagement of the earlier cases, and the need to concentrate all their resources on this new murder, to approach it with an open mind. With each of the team playing to their strengths, information and analysis eventually reveal the victim’s identity: Elise Durand, a talented graphic artist with bipolar, heavy drug use and a sizable sexual appetite, has some similarities to the earlier victims, but her murder differs on key points. It’s soon clear that they are dealing with a different perpetrator, but Eden’s research does reveal other murders that may be linked to Partridge. Eddie is haunted by one of those previous victims, plagued by migraines and under threat from his Police Chief to make an arrest. Excellent detective work by the rest of the team reveals a likely trio of suspects, with information from an unexpected source, but hard evidence is lacking. In the final chapters, this story has a touch of keystone cops: two experienced cops whose arrogance sees them underestimating suspects during an arrest, an attitude that comes back to bite them; and with two ruthless killers not yet in custody, Eddie relies what he believes he knows about one to secure an arrest, but makes a poor judgement call that endangers one of the team and makes for a nail-biting climax. The story plays out over a mere four days, during which time Weisel manages to give each of the main protagonists some back-story to their anxieties, inadequacies and failings as well as their talents and skills. This is an impressive debut novel and the second book, The Day He Left, is eagerly anticipated.

Detective Eddie Mahler and his investigative team are called to the scene of a woman's body, strangled, and left on a park bench. Mahler is immediately taken back to another scene quite like this one. And 72 hours after finding that body ... another body is found in the same area and killed the same way. No one was ever charged for those crimes. BOOK BLURB: Now suffering from chronic migraines that affect his vision, Mahler has secretly lost faith in the investigation process, and must rely more than ever on his team. Its newest member, Eden Somers, is a former FBI analyst whose ability to completely immerse herself in the evidence of a case proves both a gift and a curse. While Eden dives deep into the cold case evidence, the rest of the team chase leads to identify the latest victim, and discover that her death might be the work of a new killer altogether. He and his team must stop the killer/killers before another murder occurs. It's a well-written, compelling, fast-paced read. Credible characters are caught up in the swirling twists and turns that ultimately lead to an unexpected ending. This book introduces the Violent Crime Investigations Team, a modern series of hard boiled crime fiction, taking on the very worst of California crime. It looks to be a compelling series and I look forward to reading the next case for this team. Many thanks to the author / Poisoned Pen Press / Netgalley for the digital copy of this hard boiled crime fiction/mystery. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.