NYPD Detective Frank Janek Confronts Another Very Damaged Killer in WALLFLOWER

Published in 1991, Wallflower is the third entry in William Bayer's relatively short series featuring New York City homicide detective Frank Janek. Like the first two, Peregrine, and Switch, the story centers on a killer with deep psychological issues and on Janek's ability to effectively get into the mind of the killer and bring that person to justice. 

This case, though, is deeply personal. Janek is enjoying a vacation in Italy when he receives terrible news: his goddaughter, a college student, has been stabbed to death while jogging at night in a New York City Park. It initially appears that this was a sick, random killing by someone who stabbed the young woman with an ice pick and then mutilated her body in a particularly gruesome way, and Janek promises the victim's parents that he will somehow find the killer. 

The case has been assigned to a plodding homicide detective who is clearly in way over his head and whose chances of solving the case are virtually nil. An additional problem is that the detective assigned to the case is extremely jealous of Frank Janek and doesn't want him anywhere near the investigation. 

Naturally, given his relationship to the victim, the department doesn't want Janek anywhere near the case either, at least not openly and officially. But Janek soon learns that his goddaughter's death was almost certainly not a random killing but rather was part of a series of killings that the F.B.I. is calling the Wallflower murders. The F.B.I. invites Janek to join the team investigating the crimes, but convinced that the fibbies are headed in the wrong direction, he devises a way to effectively checkmate both them and his own department and to pursue the investigation basically on his own. 

These novels, at least the first three in the series, are somewhat different than the usual police procedurals that dominate the marketplace in that Bayer does not feel compelled to keep his main protagonist constantly at the center of the story. In each of these books, but particularly this one, the antagonist takes over the book for long stretches at a time. All of the villains in these books are seriously damaged characters, often brilliant in some limited ways, and it takes an equally brilliant detective to eventually understand them. 

The villain and the crimes committed in this novel are unique and horrifying, but the book is riveting and expertly done. I'm eagerly looking forward to the fourth, and last, book in the series.