Pop Goes the Weasel (Helen Grace #2) by M.J. Arlidge

This is an odd little series.  After I read the first book, the author scared me so badly I stayed awake at night for a few nights.  So I vowed, never again.  Despite that, here's a review of her second book.  And, yes, this one is as macabre as the first one...

New American Library sent me a copy of this book to read for review (thank you).  It has just been published so you should be able to find a copy at your bookstore now.

He's a deacon of the church but he's not a nice man.  When he goes out to find a prostitute for the evening, he never expected to end up dead.  His family had no idea of his outside activities but when his heart is delivered by special courier, they find out he's not coming back.

He's not the only victim, just the first one.  Helen Grace is assigned to the case but it's not an easy one to investigate.  Her boss is against her, her staff is having personal problems, and she's got a journalist that always seems to be in her back pocket.  The journalist has found out her secrets and is trying to blackmail her.  The family of the dead deacon refuse to believe that he was a regular john and had several sexually transmitted diseases; they are  just speaking ill of the dead.

There's lots of trauma, karma caught up with the deacon, two cops have resigned, and Helen doesn't know what's going to happen to her.  You don't read this series for clean easy-to-figure-out mysteries or happy endings.  The stories are mean and Helen always ends up on the short end of the stick.  I'm hoping maybe by the next one there might be some hope in Helen's life.  But I won't hold my breath.  Having said that, I'll probably end up reading the next one, too.  Mr. Arlidge's stories are well written, just hard to take.  Are you brave enough to read this one?