Review of "The Rainy Day Killer (Fourth Novel in the Donaghue-Stainer Crime Novel Series)" by Michael J. McCann

A man in a business suit offers the protection of his umbrella to an unsuspecting woman ... and several days later she turns up dead on a river bank, raped and strangled. The terrifying serial killer known in the press as the Rainy Day Killer is now hunting new victims in the city of Glendale ... whenever it rains.

Homicide Lieutenant Hank Donaghue leads the investigation as the killer begins to communicate directly to him through phone calls and grisly packages containing body parts of his victims. Assisted by FBI profiler Ed Griffin, Donaghue and Detective Karen Stainer pursue an elusive predator who leaves no physical evidence behind.

The timing couldn't be worse, however, as Karen Stainer's attention is divided between the investigation and preparations for her upcoming wedding. Distracted and uncertain about her future, Stainer is furious when she learns that the Rainy Day Killer has followed her to Virginia, where the wedding will take place, and that he intends to make her his next victim!

I love a good mystery/crime novel. I love reading the characters as they work their case. Michael McCann does a great job here with lots of knowledge of how cases are worked from start to finish, even acknowledging that some cases remain open long term and sometimes they're put on a back burner so active cases can be solved before going back to a pursuit that requires the finding of more leads, etc. The author also shows us how politics works throughout a case, he shows how organizations battle over jurisdictions and how uncooperative jurisdictions can be to each other. It is all extremely real.

I enjoyed Lt. Donaghue and Detective Stainer. Their characters work enormously well together, complementing each other's strengths and weaknesses. These two have each other's backs in all things. FBI profiler Ed Griffin was also a great addition to the team. He puts away the psychobabble and profiles from the perspective of law enforcement. I loved the pacing of the story. The clues came as a result of tracking down leads and good police work. I liked that both main characters are hero and heroine. Detective Stainer is tough and she's good at her job. Lt. Donaghue respects his partner and her abilities. The fact that Detective Stainer is marrying an FBI agent and he is assigned to assist in the case bridges a lot of possible gaps in communications between the GPD and the FBI, making the processing of evidence a bit better.

The whole relationship initiated by the Rainy Day Killer with Lt. Donaghue is brilliantly done. The RDK did the same in all of the previous states he's killed in and he seems to "like" Hank the best. I think the RDK's relationship with Hank does eventually cause him to slip up. He has to show off for Hank and let him know how crafty and smart he thinks he is. He's so arrogant, he even tells Hank when he decides his next kill will be Detective Stainer. And the climax is fantastic.

I usually use this part of my review to talk about what I didn't like about the book or how the book can be improved in some way. As nobody's perfect, I think the book is so well written, I have no real criticism of anything. I will use this part to note that the ePub file was "off." The number of pages left in a chapter was never right, the Table of Contents listed pages instead of chapters and the formatting throughout showed many half-filled pages. I think it's the file itself as none of my other ePub books in the app don't have this issue. It did not make reading difficult. Just a little note.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My honest review overall is that the book is excellent. I see it's part of a series. I'd like to read the three books that come before this one.