If I should Die Before I Wake: A Raymond Mallard Mystery

Detective Raymond Mallard doesn't believe in angels or demons. A disillusioned police officer still healing from the death of a partner, he is uncertain about his future on the job, and the last thing he wants to do is investigate a serial killer. He is forced to do just that, however, when the wife of a fellow officer is found dead, posed like a work of classical art. Mallard and his new partner soon connect a long series of murders to one man. The problem? He has a firm alibi, provided by his boss, Leviathan Langston. Langston is a business mogul with a very specific interest in art. He buys and collects fertility symbols, and he seems to exude a dark sensuality to anyone who gets within his reach. Langston is an incubus, with the power to seduce and control almost anyone, regardless of the costs, regardless of their own values or beliefs. In order to solve the murders and bring the killer to justice, Mallard is forced to accept the reality of fallen angels, caught between heaven and hell; and he has to do it without getting caught in the seductive web himself. This it the case that will lead Detective Mallard to question everything he's ever taken for granted, including his own sanity.