CERTIFIABLY INSANE

Bahr’s posthumous first novel trains a microscope on a killer’s insanity defense and its chilling, though predictable, aftermath. As the New York police go about their work on the murder scene, examining the corpses of their colleague Dennis Jensen and his infant son Sean, Janice Jensen, Dennis’s widow and killer, sits among them in a pool of blood, placidly eating grapes. She’s clearly insane, maintains her attorney, wheelchair-bound Kate Newhouse, who brings in two forensic specialists to examine her. One is Dr. Brice Darling, a hired gun who’ll testify unshakably to anything under the sun if the price is right; the other is Dr. Simon Rose, whom Janice herself had requested because back in college he was her friend and briefly her lover, and because she’s convinced he’s still in love with her now. In truth, Simon, who’s devoted himself since widowhood to his adopted daughter Debby, hasn’t thought much about Janice for years. But now that they’re back together again, even if it’s only under the darkest professional shadow, he can’t get her out of his mind and soon finds himself falling again under her half-seductive, half-coercive spell. Citing a personal conflict that would prejudice his standing in the court, he withdraws from Janice’s case and looks on from the gallery as her hearing comes to a horrifying climax. And worse is still to come, for Janice isn’t done with Simon yet. More certain than ever that she’s the love of his life, she’s determined to attack anyone she sees as an obstacle to her desire, and Simon waits helplessly to see who her next target will be: his daughter? his brother? his father? his dog? Though the hell-hath-no-fury plot couldn’t be more familiar (especially to fans of Richard Gere movies), Bahr’s portrait of his homicidal heroine and her victims is so nuanced that the familiar plot twists seem, if not exactly fresh, then genuinely creepy. (Mystery Guild featured alternate)