The Devil in Me

When his attempts to publish his eccentric “list” poems in literary journals prove futile, convicted rapist and Shakespearean scholar Lawrence Woolley exacts the most terrible revenge. One by one, he murders the editors who have rejected his work, each time leaving a signature clue for the cops to puzzle over. Detective Sergeant Campbell Young, the narrator, deep in a funk since his not-so-recent divorce and unhappily contemplating retirement, takes on the case, initially...
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When his attempts to publish his eccentric “list” poems in literary journals prove futile, convicted rapist and Shakespearean scholar Lawrence Woolley exacts the most terrible revenge. One by one, he murders the editors who have rejected his work, each time leaving a signature clue for the cops to puzzle over. Detective Sergeant Campbell Young, the narrator, deep in a funk since his not-so-recent divorce and unhappily contemplating retirement, takes on the case, initially with great weariness. Soon he finds himself fascinated by the wiles and learning of his murderous adversary and rises to Woolley’s challenge of wits, with the help of colleagues and friends from his local bar. But the challenge comes excruciatingly close to home when Woolley, in desperation, ditches his modus operandi and targets Young’s adult daughter as his next victim. The setting is Toronto during the World Series in October 1992, and baseball ranks second only to apprehending Woolley in the lives of Young and his hard-drinking circle of friends. Atmospheric, graphic, and compelling, The Devil in Me is as much a literary puzzle as the suspenseful story of Young’s search for Woolley and his own search for some meaning in his life.