Angela is, by profession, a private investigator. Mama thinks she is eminently qualified to look into the matter of Albert’s disappearance. Angela’s first line of investigation is to search Albert’s apartment, circumspectly, as she doesn’t have a key. Angela finds a corpse whose physical resemblance to Albert is unmistakable. She is hopeful that Albert is still alive, as she has received an anonymous phone call from someone she believes was Albert. However, Angela becomes more concerned when she receives a severed finger with a ring belonging to her brother and a warning to quit the investigation.

He Who Dies appears to be the third in a series featuring Angela Matelli, following Missing Eden and Deadbeat. Hopefully, the first two entries are more entertaining than this one, which , although only 250 pages, took me the better part of a week to finish. The plot is not unusual, and the characters behave exactly as you would expect for their “type.” The Italian Mama, the Mob boss, the diligent daughter who just happens to be a private investigator, and Albert, who really is a good guy even though the Mob pays his salary.

Anyone should be able to finger the bad guy fifty pages or so into the book. There are no red herrings to make you reconsider your choice of villain, and the ultimate outcome is entirely predictable. The heroine points out that she hides her gun and ammunition in the two places thieves never look - the toilet tank and amidst her dirty laundry. If thieves read mystery novels the first place they look is the toilet tank. That’s where the drugs are hidden.

Not having read the first two books in the series, perhaps I am being unfair to the author. These two efforts may be worthy of your attention, and the third one misfired, but He Who Dies is not an inspired book. It may appeal to those who shun graphic violence (a severed finger doesn’t qualify as graphic in my estimation) , and the level of sex and profanity is low, but, that having been said, I can find little to recommend in this book.

--Andy Plonka