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The Killing Cards |
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 The Killing Cards byLou Campanozzi Hollis Books 307 pages, May 2000 ISBN 1928781489 Reviewed by Phillip Tomasso III Read our author interview Lieutenant Mike [Ace] Amato makes his genre debut as a homicide detective for the Rochester Police Department. In The Killing Cards - the first in a scheduled five-book series - Amato is called to investigate what appears to be a mob hit. Someone has murdered Frankie Ten Times, a mobster in the city’s crime family. When the autopsy is performed, a playing card - the Ten of Spades - is found in Frankie’s mouth. Lt. Amato does the obvious and checks around to see if Frankie had any outstanding gambling debts. It isn’t long until the next body is found. The second victim Landers, a union man known as Jack of all Trades, is found murdered with the Jack of Spades [the playing card] in the waistline of his belt. Lt. Amato develops a theory. It looks as if a serial killer is loose in the city and making a game out of the murders. Amato fears that the killings won’t stop until the deranged murderer has completed his hand. If Amato is right, then there are to be at least three more killings. Amato wonders if the serial killer’s sinister plan for holding a Royal Flush will include him as the ace in the hole, since for years his nickname has been "Ace". The veteran detective has his work cut out for him. Aside from solving the serial killings, Amato must also work against the flow of politics within the department. The chief of police has it in for him since the two had a major disagreement more than a decade ago, and the chief will not let the past die. Lou Campanozzi knows his stuff - and he should - having spent twenty-two years on the Rochester Police Force. He writes with vivid imagery and crisp dialogue, telling the tale of the serial killer but also illustrating investigative police work. The reader is taken into the home life of a typical police officer; long hours at work, arriving home late at night with no way of communicating feelings, and no way of describing the horrors one has encountered. And then there is the family’s point of view, desperately trying to understand something outside of its grasp. The Killing Cards is the kind of mystery that drives me crazy. If I set it down and try to accomplish other tasks, I find myself daydreaming and thinking about the characters in the story. The Killing Cards is quick and smart, and provides an inside look into the real police work that goes on when a homicide is being investigated. If this first Mike Amato novel is a prelude of forthcoming books in the series, I can hardly wait for the next tale. |
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