Jack Kerley - The Death Collectors

The Death Collectors

In 1972, the day he is being sentenced, well known artist and serial killer Marsden Hexcamp is shot to death in the courtroom. The members of his Mansonesque cult are imprisoned or vanish. 30 years later, a possible prostitute is found dead, in a motel room full of candles, resembling Marsden Hexcamp's first murder. Soon after Marsden's artwork is sent to many of his remaining followers, and shortly after his followers see his artwork, they are killed by an unknown assailant. Detective Carson Ryder and Harry Nautilus, the only members of the Pyschopathilogical and Sociopathilogical Investigation Team, or PSIT, are put on the case. Following the artwork they descend into the world of the Death Collectors, people who spend obscene amounts of money to own memorabilia of serial killers.

• Publisher: E.P. Dutton; 320 pp. ISBN 0-525-94877-5 (hardcover).
  • (Japan) Best Foreign Mystery of the Decade (2000-2009)