ANGEL OF DARKNESS

The lost soul of an unsuccessful police officer roams a Delaware town seeking redemption.

Before he was killed in a drug bust gone wrong, Kevin Fahey was no great shakes as a police detective, husband or father. Now that he’s dead, Kevin hangs around the Holloway Institute, whose troubled residents try to overcome their mental problems with a wide range of outcomes. Incarcerated in the unit for the criminally insane is Otis Redman Parker, who managed to finagle an insanity plea after brutally murdering several women. The body of a young woman is found near the Institute with all the marks of Parker’s former kills, many of them unknown to the public. Besides feeling pessimistic over Parker’s efforts to overturn his guilty plea, Kevin must also watch his son Michael spend time at the Institute in an effort to handle his problems, many caused by Kevin’s death. The police team investigating the murder is sure Parker is somehow involved, since it was one of the few cases that Kevin did not screw up, but they expect proving his guilt will be difficult. The teenage girl who was killed was Michael’s friend and the former girlfriend of his best friend Adam, a bright boy who leads a hellish life with an abusive father. Hoping to help solve the case, unseen Kevin tags along with the investigators and listens in on conversations in the Institute. Since he has no corporeal body, he cannot act himself, but he aims to influence others in a desperate attempt to nail the killer.

Munger’s third Dead Detective case (Angel Interrupted, 2010, etc.) is a police procedural with a twist. Kevin’s latest attempt at redemption is filled with anger and anguish right up to the exciting climax.