BEHOLD A VIRGIN (upmarket crime mystery) by Peter Swirski
March, 1957. A lone policeman trudges through smog-filled streets of London to a scene of a savage domestic homicide. Trying to wrap his head around a series of attacks in which men senselessly brutalize the women they live with, Detective Inspector Shepard finds himself following a trail of mysterious disappearances, inexplicable suicides, and attacks of panic and hysteria in an effort to find a common denominator among them.
Enlisting the help of a life scientist and a journalist, Shepard reluctantly dogs the bloody trail of the mysterious syndrome right down to a fatal standoff with a hostage taker, in the process coming eye to eye with the most haunting mysteries in the history of the Western civilization.
“Peter Swirski’s writing is intelligent, darkly funny, and crisp. The result is Behold a Virgin: an impeccably plotted, scientifically grounded, genre-defying mystery.”—Nelson DeMille, #1 New York Times bestseller
“In this gritty, high-concept mystery debut set against the post-WW2 soot-stained backstreets of London, Swirski fuses noir crime with science and theology…The atmosphere is richly rendered: London’s smog drapes the city like the “skeletal remains of a recumbent dinosaur,” while the dialogue-particularly between Shepard and the wry journalist Bernie-sparkles with a lively, hard-edged intelligence, veering from Plato and Dionysos to the blunt realities of police procedure… [I]ts prose—dryly witty and steeped in period texture—keeps the pages turning, from squalid bedsits to a chaotic hostage standoff freighted with institutional intrigue. Ultimately, Behold a Virgin offers a provocative meditation on the limits of human knowledge through the lens of history and evolutionary biology.”—Booklife/Publishers Weekly
“Swirski delivers a swift and succinct tale of science-defying murder and mystery…no word is wasted in moving the narrative forward, and each plot twist and bit of character development is handled with just the right amount of detail. The author shines at writing quick-witted dialogue that simmers with style and speed… A genre-defying thriller full of personality… A delightfully witty and weird crime yarn full of unexpected surprises.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Unlike most mysteries, Behold a Virgin doesn’t ask you to leave your head at home. Instead it asks you to use it on every genre-bending page brimming with Sorkin-esque dialog so sharp, you can shave with it.”—Arthur Asa Berger, author of My Name is Sherlock Holmes
“Fascinating and original.”—Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States, on Peter Swirski
