East of the Arch: A Joe Keough Mystery

By Robert J. Randisi

Book Overview

Keough has been at his job in the Mayor's office for a year and he's not happy. He's been involved in more political functions and fund raisers than investigations. But when bodies of pregnant women begin to pile up on the Illinois side of the Mississippi, the Mayor of East St. Louis asks for help. Now out on loan, Keough heads up the search for a serial killer with only a Mark Twain quoting sidekick and young female clerk as his "task force." At the worst possible time his ex-girlfriend, Valerie, comes back into his life with a problem--the little boy, Brady, who tracked bloody footprints into Keough's life in In the Shadow of the Arch, is in trouble. And as if all this weren't enough, Keough is still trying to adjust to the fact that he has diabetes. When an offer to leave St. Louis to join a special state-wide serial killer squad comes his way, Keough has to make a decision that could change his personal and professional life forever. Throughout all this turmoil, Keough works frantically to discover the perpetrator of these increasingly sick and twisted crimes, before another young woman and her unborn baby are killed. Filled with modern images of St. Louis, Robert J. Randisi spins another thrilling, multi-layered murder mystery.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312283989
• ISBN13: 9780312283988
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 370 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.4" x 1.3" x 4.8"

Customer Reviews

A FAST PACED , FIRST RATE MUST READ STORY!!!

EAST OF THE ARCH is the third installment in the Joe Keough detective series from master story teller Robert J Randisi. Considering moving on in his career, Joe's mind is changed when he is loaned out by his boss, the mayor of St. Louis, to investigate a serial killing spree that is occuring there. Keough has assigned to him a "task force" consisting of a young Mark Twain quoting dective, Marc Jeter( who I would like to see teamed up with Keough again) and their "girl Friday" Jenny Sykes. The three begin the investigation of a serial killer who is killing pregnant women. Also showing up from Joe's past is Valerie Speck and the boy Brady who were involve in Keough's first case in St. Louis and the IA detectives Mason & Gail who are still out to get Keough any way they can. Add a seperate murder to the mix and once again Randisi weaves a first rate mystery. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND EAST OF THE ARCH and hope there are many more Randisi Joe Keough books coming out.

excellent police procedural

Detective Joe Keough is a St. Louis Detective who is the mayor's "top cop" which means he is little more than a bodyguard. He misses working in the field. Joe is actually thinking of leaving and moving on to someplace where he can do some actual police work when the mayor of East St. Louis in Illinois asks the mayor of St. Louis to loan him a police officer who has had experience in apprehending serial killers.Joe is the logical choice and he jumps at the chance to find out who is killing pregnant women and ripping out their fetuses. When Joe sets up his new office there are two such killings and he knows it is only a matter of time before there is a third. He is paired off with police officer Marc Jeeter, an idealistic man who badly wants catch this maniac and put him and put him in a cage but that won't be an easy take because there are political forces at work with a different agenda.Robert J. Randisi is an author who knows how to write an excellent police procedural. He shows a step-by-step investigation in progress and the reader gets so caught up in it that he can't put the book down until he learns how it all turns out. Part of the book is told by the viewpoint of the villain. This is exciting and horrifying at the same time. EAST OF THE ARCH is a fantastic installment in this long running series.Harriet Klausner