Immediately Alec is thrown into the case of two Wilmington, Delaware teenagers who had been found dead in an icy pond. They were nude, one strapped to a chair and the other taped to the back of the chair in a kneeling position. Investigation reveals that they were lured to the site by an internet scammer who had offered them a cashier's check to appear.

The continuing investigation takes Alec to the home of Samantha Dalton, a published expert on internet scams. Sam is hiding from herself and from the real world as a result of a psychologically damaging divorce. She updates her blog sites daily and it appears that she had email contact with one of the boys prior to his death, warning him about the dangers of responding to this type of scam.

A former profiler, Alec quickly finds a similarity in content and wording on her site with prior emails of a serial killer known as the Professor. The homicides are never ones where violence is perpetrated directly upon the victim but rather occurs as a result of the victim panicking or making fatal choices. The victims are always lured by variations of internet scams to their deaths.

Sam has embraced her career as a result of her grandmother being swindled through the internet. Thus she is responsive to helping the FBI in any way that she can. And that way, of course, is to initiate a dialog with the person whose messages sound like the Professor.

This situation becomes dangerous with the realization that this killer knows who she is and that she has moved into the realm of probable target. By this time the attraction between Alec and Sam is simmering and he has become her sole protector.

Pitch Black is the second book in Parrish's series involving the Black Cat Agency. It stands alone well as the character development is solid and not dependent on book one. The plot is well structured, well organized and the work product of a gifted writer. The author has several minor subplots which add interest and complexity to the story. And she ably utilizes scene segues, dialog, and foreshadowing to sustain reader interest.

Topically, perhaps the greatest contribution is the effect in the heightening of public awareness to the variations and dangers posed by internet scammers. Pitch Black comes with a strong recommendation.

--Thea Davis