Describes the efforts of pioneering detective Joe Horgas in the first case in which DNA testing was utilized in order to catch a serial killer, a theory that had been resisted by his superiors and colleagues. Tour. Convicted of a sadistic rape and murder, Tim Spencer went to Virginia's electric chair last year. Before that closure, the suburban Richmond, Virginia, region in the late 1980s trembled at the knowledge of a serial killer at large, a prowling, clever criminal whose signature MO was trussing up his female victims and torturing them. Mones details the gruesome crime scenes to set the stage for cheering on the detective who ultimately solved the cases, Joe Horgas. Portrayed like a one-man tornado of justice, who also righted the wrongs of fellow detectives who had extracted a "confession" from an innocent man, the profane-speaking Horgas and his real-life police procedures should bring true-crime buffs flocking to this drama. A fillip of topical interest (the O. J. Simpson trial) concerns the DNA evidence crucial to the case, the first in which a capital conviction was obtained from the double helix's "fingerprint." A story exciting on its own merits, publicity could push Mones' book into the insatiable market for Simpsonian titles. Gilbert Taylor