John Lutz: Nightlines (2004)

From the Publisher:
Her twin sister Jenine had been murdered, and Jeanette Bpyington wanted St. Louis based private eye Alo Nudger to help find the killer. Nudger knew he shouldn't take the case, knew it wasn't a good idea to get involved In an active police investigation. But he needed the work, and so he agreed to take it -- and soon found himself caught in a web of deceit and danger.

A murderer is stalking the streets of the Gateway City, and the only connection between his victims are the nightlines -- special phone lines used by the phone company to test equipment. At night, lone-ly people use them to make contact with each other: to talk, to meet, perhaps, to have someone who will care, even if just for a moment, anonymously. But something has gone horribly wrong, and people are dying.

Nudger is part of the network now, and discovers the very special Lure of the nightlines when he falls in Love with a woman he meets over them. A woman who may be the next victim...

John Lutz: Nightlines. The First Alo Nudger Mystery. iBooks; ISBN: 0743497899 (November, 2004), 282 p., $6.99, £5.99.

John Lutz: Nightlines (USA 1987)

From the Publisher:
ALO NUDGER NEEDED THE WORK
Her twin sister had been murdered, and Jeanette Boyington wanted Nudger to help find the killer. He knew he shouldn't do it, knew it was not a good idea to get involved in an active police investigation. But he said yes, and found himself caught in a web of deceit and deadly danger.

Someone is stalking the streets of St. Louis, leaving the dead in his wake. The only connection between the victims are the nightlines, special phone lines used by the phone company to test equipment. At night, lonely people use them to make contact with each other: to talk, to meet, perhaps, to have someone who will care, even if just for a moment, anonymously. Now, something has gone wrong, murderously awry. Someone is using the nightlines to make terminal connections.

Nudger is part of the network, now, and discovers the very special lure of the nightlines when he falls in love with a woman he meets over them. A woman who may be the next victim...

John Lutz: Nightlines. Tom Doherty / Tor Books, ISBN: 0812506480 (January, 1987), 350 p., $3.95.

John Lutz: Nightlines (UK 1986)

From the Publisher:
A wind-driven sheet of rain hit Nudger's office window, making a fierce rattling sound, like something with claws clambering to get in. Sometimes being a private investigator wasn't so bad. This was just like being in a movie. Or a dream. Or a dream of a movie. Real atmosphere.

Nudger's client is a beautiful woman whose twin sister has just been murdered. Desperate for revenge, she believes the police have ignored the possibility of a mass killer making contact with his victims via the secret telephone lines used by the lonely, desperate and sometimes perverted population of St Louis.

Reluctantly Nudger is drawn into this twilight world of faceless voices. His client's mother, an icy, tyrannical matriarch, tries to buy him off. A police lieutenant discounts the theory of a maniac, until more women are found slaughtered.

In the midst of it all, hating the danger, wishing he were suited for some other line of work, Nudger determines to learn the truth.

His tenacity is rewarded in a truly startling denouement in which the capture of the murderer is of secondary importance to the treachery it reveals.

This is a novel of deceptively powerful tension, full of insights into human frailty and skilfully crafted in the best traditions of the genre.

John Lutz: Nightlines. Macmillan, ISBN: 0333413814 (February, 1986), 350 p., £7.95.