From Publishers Weekly
The brutal murder of a young girl polarizes the inhabitants of the newly gentrified London neighborhood under the jurisdiction of police chief commander John Coffin, seen before in Coffin in the Museum of Crime . Victim Anna Mary Kinver belonged to a working-class family long resident in the area, while one of the suspects, Tim Zeman, is the son of a well-to-do doctor. Although a blood-soaked vagrant seems a more likely suspect at first, anonymous letters signed "Paper Man" threaten vengeance if the police don't arrest Tim. The mental breakdown of Anna's father, the deaths of two members of Tim's family and then his apparent suicide add further complications. While neighborhood turmoil escalates, Coffin is forced to unravel this complex skein of events while fulfilling the day-to-day requirements of his new position and conducting a love affair with actress Stella Pinero, who runs a nearby theater workshop and knows the families involved in the murders. Butler pens a superior procedural, limning her chosen area of London as it undergoes the throes of physical and sociological change. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Scotland Yard's Chief Commander John Coffin is, at last, mostly at ease with the Docklands area he now commands (Coffin in the Museum of Crime, etc.), living in an apartment neighboring one owned by actress Stella Pinero, his longtime friend, sometime lover. The district, a mix of old poverty and new wealth, is shaken by the rape-murder of young Anna Mary Kinver, her body found by Jim Marsh, who walks the dogs of well-to-do families on Feather Street. Doctors Leonard and Felicity Zeman live there with son Tim, who's a prime suspect in the killing. Anna Mary's grief-crazed father Fred is sure of Tim's guilt and exults as the Zeman family is hit by repeated tragedies. Meanwhile, Coffin--besieged by ominous letters signed ``Paperman,'' malicious mischief and worse from local hoodlums, and proof that a poisoner is at work--slowly ties up a cascade of loose ends and solves a complex puzzle in this richly textured police procedural. One of the best in the Coffin series. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

ANNOTATION

Following the brutal stabbing of a young girl, John Coffin, chief commander of the Docklands district, receives a series of notes from "the Paper Man" promising more bodies if the young girl's killer isn't caught. As the case goes unsolved, more bodies turn up, and now Coffin must find two killers. Martin's.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

The brutal murder of a young girl polarizes the inhabitants of the newly gentrified London neighborhood under the jurisdiction of police chief commander John Coffin, seen before in Coffin in the Museum of Crime . Victim Anna Mary Kinver belonged to a working-class family long resident in the area, while one of the suspects, Tim Zeman, is the son of a well-to-do doctor. Although a blood-soaked vagrant seems a more likely suspect at first, anonymous letters signed ``Paper Man'' threaten vengeance if the police don't arrest Tim. The mental breakdown of Anna's father, the deaths of two members of Tim's family and then his apparent suicide add further complications. While neighborhood turmoil escalates, Coffin is forced to unravel this complex skein of events while fulfilling the day-to-day requirements of his new position and conducting a love affair with actress Stella Pinero, who runs a nearby theater workshop and knows the families involved in the murders. Butler pens a superior procedural, limning her chosen area of London as it undergoes the throes of physical and sociological change. (June)

Kirkus Reviews

Scotland Yard's Chief Commander John Coffin is, at last, mostly at ease with the Docklands area he now commands (Coffin in the Museum of Crime, etc.), living in an apartment neighboring one owned by actress Stella Pinero, his longtime friend, sometime lover. The district, a mix of old poverty and new wealth, is shaken by the rape-murder of young Anna Mary Kinver, her body found by Jim Marsh, who walks the dogs of well-to-do families on Feather Street. Doctors Leonard and Felicity Zeman live there with son Tim, who's a prime suspect in the killing. Anna Mary's grief-crazed father Fred is sure of Tim's guilt and exults as the Zeman family is hit by repeated tragedies. Meanwhile, Coffin—besieged by ominous letters signed "Paperman," malicious mischief and worse from local hoodlums, and proof that a poisoner is at work—slowly ties up a cascade of loose ends and solves a complex puzzle in this richly textured police procedural. One of the best in the Coffin series.