I’m still catching up on my reading from my visit to my Mom. Thanks to Kevin Tipple, I’m sharing a review of an older title, At What Cost: A Detective Penley Mystery by James L’Etoile.
A serial killer is active in At What Cost: A Detective Penley Mystery by James L’Etoile. Not just your average run of the mill serial killer either as West Sacramento Police Detective John Penley and his partner, Detective Paula Newberry, have discovered. They already knew a killer was dumping bodies and those bodies were found missing organs. The latest victim, a well-known gang member going back many years, and a guy who did a lot of horrible stuff in his past regardless of what he was doing in the here and now, is missing his head and his limbs. His extremely distinctive tattoo on his chest made what is left of him easy to identify.
Evidence leads them to believe more and more that the killer is also a collector. They think he is collecting body parts from the kills. In a way, he is. In another way, he is a harvester. He, somehow, is aware of the needs of patients on the national transplant list. He is harvesting organs to fill those needs and others on the black market.
He soon makes it very clear that he knows Penley’s son is on the transplant list for a kidney and the need is critical. His disease progression is such that the window for his son to survive the surgery is closing a little each day. The killer makes it very clear that he can get a kidney for Penley’s son, but it is going to cost in many different ways.
What follows is a complex and often disturbingly intense police procedural. For those of us who have been through the transplant process, the read can be a bit much at times. While it is all fiction, one wonders just how strong are the safeguards to prevent what happens in the read.
At What Cost: A Detective Penley Mystery by James L’Etoile is the first book of this police procedural series. Published in 2016 by Crooked Lane Books, the read is just as powerful and relevant today.
Strongly Recommended.
My hardback reading copy came from the Central, or Downtown Branch, of the Dallas Public Library System. Book two of the series, Bury the Past, is on hold for me at the library.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2025
Thanks for the review Kevin. My library system has the books. Do you know if the author continued the series beyond the two you mentioned.
No, he did not. But, he does have two other police procedural series you might like.
Detective Emily Hunter series begins with Face of Greed and is also set in Sacramento. The third book in the series is coming in January. That was a big surprise to me when I saw him talking about it on Facebook last week as I thought that deal, like this one, was a two book series only.
He has a four book series that starts with Dead Drop: A Detective Nathan Parker Novel. I have it here in my eBook TBR. So, I can’t tell you anything about that book or the series.
Anyway, that is what I know and thank you for reading my review effort.
Glad to help, Lesa. Thank you for continuing to publish my reviews.
Thank you, Kevin, for sharing your reviews.
Kevin, thanks for the blast to the past with this review for At What Cost. Even though this was a short lived series, I think it provided the springboard for what was to come after. Truly appreciate the support.