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FINAL NOTICE from 1980 was the second novel to feature P. I. Harry Stoner. The first was covered HERE by Rob Kitchin.

It seemed a fairly simple case to Harry. Someone was defacing art books at the Hyde Park Library and the head librarian wanted it stopped. It cost a lot of money to replace them and he didn’t have a lot of faith in the young woman that was the head of security. Kate Davis was an intelligent young woman that had a naive faith in her brown belt in karate to keep her safe. When Harry was shown the actual defacement, he realized that this was no ordinary vandal and more was going on here. Someone had used a very sharp knife to cut out the breasts, genitals, eyes, and mouths in all the photos of statues and paintings.

With the help of a little old lady, one of the librarians, and the very liberated Kate Davis who objected to his more traditional placement of the female, he starts the hunt. When they uncover a two year old murder of a young woman, an art student, in an eerily similar fashion, Harry knows the psychopath is getting ready to kill again and he determines he will find him before that happens.

A fast moving read, I enjoyed this one even though I figured out what where it was headed about three quarters through. That may have been the author’s intention as he started revealing things piece by piece such that I knew.

Worth a look.