Ridley Pearson: No Witnesses (USA 2001)

From the Publisher:
Product tampering. Innocent lives. Nice suburban homes. A Seattle food company is victim to an ingenious extortion that has the FBI two steps behind. Seattle's veteran homicide sergeant, Lou Boldt, and police psychologist Daphne Matthews approach the case from opposite ends: one undearthing micoscopic evidence, the other putting together a chilling psychological profile of a man willing to contaminate and kill if necessary.

The cop Daphne Matthews secretly loves is being destroyed by the extortion. Boldt sees his department cracking. As the high-tech manhunt builds to a furious crescendo, Boldt and Matthews are jolted again: the madman they're hunting maynot be working alone...

Ridley Pearson: No Witnesses. Hyperion Books, ISBN: 0786890061 (June, 2001), 480 p., $6.99.

Ridley Pearson: No Witnesses (USA 1996)

From the Publisher:
HE'S COMMITTED THE PERFECT MURDER. NOW HE'LL DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN...
Innocent lives are being snuffed out-in nice suburban homes, in clean kitchens, and children's playhouses. A Seattle food company is crumbling. And veteran homicide sergeant Lou Boldt and police psychologist Daphne Matthews are clawing at the case from opposite ends: unearthing microscopic evidence and the chilling psychological profile of a murderous product tamperer.

The man Daphne Matthews loves is being destroyed by the killings. Boldt sees the awesome power of his department cracking as the extortionist slips away from ATM machines with his payoft. And suddenly, as the high-tech manhunt builds to a furious crescendo, Boldt and Matthews are jolted again: the madman they re hunting may not be alone.

Ridley Pearson: No Witnesses. Island Books, ISBN: 0440221420 (May, 1996), 480 p., $6.99.

Ridley Pearson: No Witnesses (UK 1995)

From the Publisher:
'THE CHOICE IS YOURS. MORE SUFFERING - AND WORSE - UNLESS YOU OBEY. HUNDREDS WILL DIE.'
People are dying in Seattle - seemingly random victims of poisoned food placed in neighbourhood supermarkets. Insane but highly intelligent, the criminal leaves no tracks. By the time the killings take place he is miles - even days - away from the crime. Only the chilling extortion letters - faxed from public phone lines - give horrifying glimpses into the mind of a psychopath.

But how can you stop a criminal when there is no crime scene and no witnesses?

Seattle police detective Lou Boldt, hero of The Angel Maker, can see patterns and motivations that others can't. Using the most advanced technological, forensic and psychological tools, he hunts the killer as the death count mounts, and discovers a truth more shocking than he could over have imagined.

Ridley Pearson: No Witnesses. Pocket Books, ISBN: 0671851888 (April, 1995), 422 p., £4.99.

Ridley Pearson: No Witnesses (USA 1994)

From the Publisher:
Ridley Pearion has been called "a thinking person's Robert Rudlum" (Entertainment Weekly) and "a killer combination of Patricia Cornwell and John D. MacDonald" (Stephen King)-- and now he gives us his most intricate and intense novel, a masterwork of forensic detection and a chilling high-tech game of cat and mouse.

Seattle police detective Lou Boldt and police psychologist Daphne Matthews (seen previously in Pearson's Undercurrents and The Angel Maker) return in No Witnesses to confront the most challenging case of their careers. People are dying throughout Seattle - victims of a madman who is placing poisoned food in neighborhood supermarkets. But the criminal is intelligent: he writes the police chilling extortion letters - faxed directly from a laptop computer over public telephone lines - and retrieves his ransom electronically, through automatic teller machines in hundreds of locations around the city. And while he is a murderer, his crimes take place miles and often days away from his innocent victims' demise. How can you stop a criminal when there is no crime scene to study - and no witnesses?

Daphne knows that no killings take place in a vacuum: there must be psychological motivations that she should be able to determine if she digs deep enough. And Boldt knows that despite the seemingly impossible task, there must be some forensic trail that he can follow - even if it is only through the netherworld of computer networks. The two of them work their own ways, with their own agendas, to track a killer - only to find a truth darker than they ever imagined.

No Witnesses is Pearson's most accomplished and complex crime novel - a book that brings the police thriller into fascinating new territory.

Ridley Pearson: No Witnesses. Hyperion Books, ISBN: 0786860669 (October, 1994), 365 p., $22.95.