Nemesis: The Final Case of Eliot Ness

Bestselling author William Bernhardt s tale of historical suspense chronicles the rampage of America s first serial killer and legendary lawman Eliot Ness final case.

In the 1930s Eliot Ness, the famous treasury agent who helped convict Al Capone, accepts a high-ranking public safety position in Cleveland, where the discovery of a dismembered torso soon plunges the city into a state of terror. As the body count rises, Ness pours more energy and manpower into his investigation, desperately trying to live up to his larger-than-life reputation. His obsession slowly erodes his personal and professional life, and his investigation finally leads to a revelation too shocking to reveal to the public. The case remains unsolved, but Bernhardt s fictionalized account presents a startling solution based on recently uncovered evidence.


From the Compact Disc edition.

Publishers Weekly

Framed by an older Eliot Ness reminiscing with a biographer in 1957, this uneven imagining of the later career of the famed lawman by Bernhardt (Capitol Conspiracy) takes place mostly in mid-1930s Cleveland. Hired as the city's new safety director, Ness focuses his efforts on cleaning up a town mired in gambling, racketeering and juvenile crime. When dismembered corpses start turning up around Kingsbury Run, a notorious slum, public pressure forces Ness to put his anticorruption plans on hold and turn his attention to catching the Torso Murderer. As more bodies appear, Ness takes drastic steps to smoke out the killer, a gamble that could cost him his career and his life. While Bernhardt's research into Ness's last major case and one of the country's first serial killers is commendable, his heavy-handed prose style turns what should have been a crackling procedural into a plodding melodrama. (Jan.)

William Bernhardt is the author of many novels, including Primary Justice, Murder One, Criminal Intent, Death Row, Hate Crime, Dark Eye, Capitol Murder, and Capitol Threat. He has twice won the Oklahoma Book Award for Best Fiction, and in 2000 he was presented the H. Louise Cobb Distinguished Author Award “in recognition of an outstanding body of work in which we understand ourselves and American society at large.” A former trial attorney, Bernhardt has received several awards for his public service.