Simon Beckett, Whispers of the Dead

Simon Beckett’s third Dr. David Hunter mystery, Whispers of the Dead (2009), is a bit like a Kay Scarpetta mystery, only better.

I quit reading Patricia Cornwell‘s Scarpetta books not because the forensics (or the murders) were too gruesome but because I got tired of both the doctor and the killer being so good at what they do — superheroes and dastardly villains, neither of whom can apparently die, work well in comic books, but please. Show your readers a little respect.

Simon Beckett does just that. Hunter, recovering from what happened in the second book, goes back to Tennessee to work with his mentor, Tom Lieberman, who runs the university’s famed body farm. Hunter’s regaining his strength, but not his mojo, and only a catastrophic event involving his friend gets him really interested in the case of a serial killer. Both the serial killer and the people tracking him are real, flawed, and human.

I would be disappointed if I thought this series would stay at the Tennessee body farm permanently, but it made a nice change of setting for Dr. Hunter, who can’t stay in one place for very long. It made sense that he’d want to get away for a while, and would return to his mentor at a time when he’s struggling.

I do like this series and will continue to read it as long as Beckett keeps come up with good scenarios involving people who could be real, not superhuman.