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Overview
Nearly a decade ago, Ben Harvey was convicted of raping a high school classmate - a crime for which he has consistently maintained his innocence. After he's spent ten years in prison, DNA evidence conclusively proves that he is indeed innocent, his conviction is overturned, and he is released. But the dreams he once had of college and a career in law are now out of his reach, and the once well-liked, respectful young man has seemingly grown embittered. Meanwhile, shortly after his release, his accuser, Laura Shay, is found dead in her apartment - brutally and mysteriously murdered. Chicago Police Detective Jeremy Ransom draws the investigation of Laura Shay's murder. Jeremy begins to look into the decade-old rape charge that continues to cast its shadow over this case, for if he is to have any chance of solving Laura's murder, he must first uncover the long-buried truth of that long-ago night.Editorials
Harriet Klausner
In Chicago, nine years ago, Laura Shay accused Ben Harvey of raping her. Ben was convicted and sent to prison. Recently, DNA testing proves that Ben never committed the crime. He is released from jail, but the idealist who entered prison is a lifetime away from the person being freed. However, matters for Ben turn worse when his accuser is murdered on his first day of freedom. Law enforcement officials believe Ben, out of vengeance, committed the act.However, police officer Jeremy Ransom refuses to rush to judgment, thinking that the original rapist might be the killer. With the help of his partner, septuagenarian Emily Charters, he begins to search for the unknown assailant, who he thinks is the killer.
The fifth Ransom-Charters novel, like the previous four tales, is a great blending if a police procedural with an amateur sleuth story, even though Emily's role is a bit less than usual. The dark story line is the first rate but tempered by the warm, respectful, and devoted relationship between the lead characters, normally found in a pure cozy. With Ransom for a Killing, Fred Hunter continues to provide readers with a marvelous mix that turn his tales into a fun time.
— Mystery Readers Journal
Publishers Weekly -
In the detecting team of Chicago cop Jeremy Ransom and Emily Charters, Jeremy's elderly and beloved friend, there exists an unlikely yet beguiling pairing of the young and the not so young, the streetwise and the sweetly intuitive. Charters's razor-sharp mind flourishes despite her limited frame of reference; Ransom is unusually erudite and proper for a city cop. Ransom does the bulk of the legwork; in this absorbing case, he's intent on unraveling the interlocking destinies of Laura Shay and Ben Harvey, the man whom Laura accused of rape nine years ago. Ben was convicted and imprisoned, but the results of a new DNA test have now set him free. Shortly after his release, Laura is found murdered and Ben, naturally, falls under suspicion. Ben has been traumatized by nearly a decade of incarceration, while Laura was known to be both promiscuous and a second-generation drunk, who mysteriously came into some money soon after Ben's conviction. After Laura's mother dies an untimely death, Ransom is convinced that finding the identity of the true rapist will lead him to the murderer. Charters doesn't have much of a presence in this fifth in the series (which follows Ransom for a Holiday, 1997) beyond noting an odd turn of phrase in Ben's first televised interview after his release. The mutual devotion between Ransom and Charters continues to be both chaste and charming, however, and contrasts dramatically with the tone of the plot, which features doings that are notably darker and tougher than those in earlier books in the series. (Dec.)Book Details
Published
December 1, 1998
Publisher
New York : St. Martin's Press, 1998.
Pages
228
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780312193232