An FBI specialist has founded an organization known as “Locard.” Patterned after a real organization known as the Vidoq Society, the group addresses “cold crimes” (principally of murder and kidnapping) which remain unsolved, and often so because the initial investigation was botched.

More than a decade earlier, teenagers Tami Franklin and Mariko Hamamoto disappeared one night from Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Months later during the spring thaw their remains are discovered. In a town where crimes are rare, skilled police officers appeared to be rarer, and culpability was ascribed to an “itinerant serial killer.” Mr. Franklin has requested that Locard become involved with the unsolved crime.

Lauren Crowder and Alan Gregory are both recruited as guest experts to join the retinue of skilled investigators and forensic specialists who contribute their time to this Washington based organization. Lauren is asked because she is familiar with Colorado prosecution. Alan is needed because he can construct a variation of a psychological autopsy of the victims, which is often used to garner unnoticed leads.

Locard recognizes that this is an old crime with current connections since one of the witnesses to be interviewed is Dr. Raymond Welle, former therapist, who has since become a U.S. Congressman. Welle’s wife had been murdered by one of his suicidal patients in the same Elk Grove Range where these crimes had possibly occurred. The victim’s families want the culprit to be punished, but naturally do not like revisiting the gory details of their child’s murders.

As Alan starts his investigation, he is confronted by cross-cultural differences, wealthy and powerful people who become unhappy, and powerful politicians with hidden agendas. It is obvious that Alan is making some type of progress when a person close to the investigation is murdered.

Cold Case is light on the character development of the principal characters, and this is probably because Stephen White fans have watched most of them evolve throughout the series. Since the novels are set in the Boulder-Denver area we have also been regaled with the beauty of the Rockies throughout the series. However, in Cold Case White is far more generous with the time spent on scene descriptions than his characters in this story.

The Denver-Boulder area has certainly garnered more than its share of news stories in the past few years. In Cold Case, Stephen White delivers not only a complicated and interesting mystery solved by “time trusted friends,” but also a very accurate background of the area. That alone makes this book topical.

--Thea Davis