Mightier than the Sword (Sabine and Jordan Investigations)

Lieutenant Sabine Larksson is an LAPD cop who is known for going about her business in a calm and emotionless way, but this is a case that truly melts the ice maiden. A serial killer calling himself ‘the hitman’ kills six victims in Los Angeles at weekly intervals. The first victim is Sabine’s detective partner, causing Sabine to become personally attached to the case, an attachment that grows as the killer leaves taped messages at every murder scene that make reference to Sabine. After the sixth murder the killer heads over to Manchester, England where the murders continue but now on a daily basis, Sabine doesn’t hesitate to follow the killer across the Atlantic.
As well as following Sabine and the English police’s efforts to catch the killer, the novel also follows the killer’s story. Rather than merely one serial killer it is actually a gang of six of them, working together and taking turns committing a murder. Through a series of flashbacks each killer’s journey to becoming a killer is told, each path is different, encouraging debate on whether killers can be made or born, and if they are a scourge of society or caused by it.
As the dysfunctional group of clashing egos begins to unravel, Sabine and her English colleagues Julia and Tony, are working all they can to catch them as soon as they can. It all ends in an explosive finale, but just when the police feel like they have resolved the case they discover there is another shocking aspect to it.
The case takes its toll on Sabine and turns out to be her last ever case for the LAPD, before setting up as a private investigator.