Windows To The World

NOT UNTIL A HOT JANUARY

M. J. Adamson

It is a bitter cold January in New York and New York Police Lt. Balthazar Marten was being bored to icicles at his desk job that has kept him working and his mind partially off his personal problems. Balthazar would never totally recuperate from the bomb blast almost a year ago that killed his wife and ruined his leg. Now he had a new assignment that he really wished would pass him by, but that was not to be. He was headed to San Juan, Puerto Rico where he was to help with the problems a new casino was having with organized crime.

Marten was well known for his recent work in a case known as the River Rat case in which a serial killer was tracked and caught.  He did speak a good college Spanish and had a partner in the past who had helped him with the language and was Puerto Rican himself. So the powers that be thought he was the right man for the job.

Before he even gets settled in his hotel room by the beautiful harbor he finds that he has been reassigned to new case of a possible serial killer of young women. This is considered by some a very un-Puerto Rican crime because the case as it began seemed very well planned and executed. On the island murders were usually spontaneous. As a matter of fact in San Juan they had two distinct homicide divisions. Homicide One where the killer was unknown, and these crimes were rare, and a larger Homicide Two for cases where the assailant was known soon after the murder, spouse or other family member for example.

 

Balthazar takes a look at all the files of three dead girls and tries to find the underlying pattern as he also tries to use his profiling skills such as they are. Some facts are clear, the killer had a military background . Fear has smothered the island and the media want to castigate the police for being incompetent.  He begins re-interviewing the friends and family members. Suddenly there are attempts on Marten’s own life and the tension increases on all involved.

Balthazar relies heavily on young Sixto Cardenas of the SJPD to help him navigate the unfamiliar culture and the beautiful, warm, exotic terrain.

 As the mystery evolves Adamson creates a very nice sense of place. The characters are well done, interesting and complex enough to make me want to read the next in the series which is A FEBRUARY FACE. These books were written in the 1980’s and are very hard to find.