A young prostitute is found dead in Glasgow's city cemetery, the Necropolis, and Rhona Macleod is called in to review the forensic evidence. As the mutilated body is removed, another is revealed underneath and the case takes on an even more sinister dimension. Who are the victims and what is there connection? Is there a sexual serial killer on the loose and how many more may be buried? The case also raises questions about the police priorities in addressing the sex industry in the city.

Another prostitute goes missing and Rhona and her colleagues are up against the clock to save her and identify the killer. The odds are lengthened as tensions between the police and the profiler brought in to help them, Professor Magnus Pirie, start to impede the investigation. Even Rhoda has issues, as she struggles with the conflict between her loyalties to her police colleagues and her personal response to Magnus and his profiling conclusions.

Rhona is a tough character, falling into some of the "feisty" cliches of her female detective predecessors, but her relationships with other members of the team inside and outside the investigation, as well as her personal life, offer the counter balance to her pursuit of the truth. Issues with close friends, their families and her past appear side by side with an investigation into a vicious crime.

In EASY KILL, the fifth in the Rhona Macleod series, (sixth if you include the prequel novella BLOOD RED ROSES), Lin Anderson exposes the seamy side of a city which is constantly reinventing itself. Drugs and prostitution form the centrepiece for the sexually motivated murders under investigation, helped by the anonymity within these businesses and the difficulties of finding those who use them. Glasgow reveals itself as a brooding character with many faces. Visions of dark alleys and seedy tenement blocks provide a fascinating backdrop to the lowlife on the streets.

Readers do not need to have read any other Rhona Macleod books to enjoy this gripping forensic thriller, but like me they may go back and find the rest after reading it.