Not since Jack the Ripper terrorised London has there been such a gruesome crime scene. By all accounts acid-tongued Vita Berlin had not a friend in the world, but who did she cross so badly to end up arranged in such a grotesque tableau? One look at her apartment turned charnel house is enough for hard-bitten LAPD detective Milo Sturgis to summon The Crime Reader. But even Alex Delaware's finely honed skills may be stymied when more slayings occur in the same ghastly fashion ...yet with no apparent connection between the victims.