Fresh off the success of The Cutting , James Hayman brings Detective Michael McCabe back in an even more powerful tale of duplicity, murder, and revenge Glamorous young Portland attorney Lainie Goff thought she had it all—brains, beauty, and a fast-track to a partnership in a top-ranked firm that was going to make her rich. But then one cold winter night she pushed things too far, and her naked frozen body is found in the sub-zero temperatures at the end of the Portland Fish Pier. The only witness to the crime: a mentally disturbed young woman named Abby Quinn who mysteriously disappears the very same night. With the discovery of Lainie Goff ’s body and the disappearance of Abby Quinn, Portland homicide detective Michael McCabe finds himself on the trail of a relentless and clever killer. A killer he must find before another life is lost. With The Chill of Night James Hayman returns to tell a gripping tale of evil and deceit and creates characters so real and so human, we want to meet them again and again. Finding the frozen, nude body of lawyer Lainie Goff in the trunk of her new Mercedes is a particular shock for Detective Sergeant Mike McCabe, because the corpse is a dead ringer for his remarried ex-wife, Sandy, with whom he still has a love-hate (mostly hate) relationship. So he has personal issues to deal with while he and partner Maggie Savage probe into the victim's past and search for the only witness to the crime, schizophrenic Abby Quinn. The bitter cold of a Portland, Maine, winter complicates the case, both in delaying forensic work on the body and in endangering some of the principals, especially Quinn, who's on the run. McCabe is a stickler for getting after the truth, whether examining his own emotions or closing cases. His second outing (after The Cutting, 2009) features a strong sense of place (the action seesaws between the mainland and nearby Harts Island), well-rounded characters, and a twisting, action-filled plot. This one puts Portland, Maine, firmly on the crime-fiction map. --Michele Leber “A strong sense of place (the action seesaws between the mainland and nearby Harts Island), well-rounded characters, and a twisting, action-filled plot.  This one puts Portland, Maine, firmly on the crime-fiction map.” — Michele Leber, Booklist “An engrossing whodunit with a tenacious investigator… Highly recommended for readers of suspenseful, captivating mysteries with a cast of colorful yet believable characters.” — Library Journal (starred review) “[THE CUTTING] was excellent, but this book is even better.… This may be Hayman's second novel, but he writes like a veteran mystery writer. His stories are gritty, suspenseful and colorful, and display tightly wrapped plots and wholly believable characters…. Hayman has produced a terrific tale that will be hard to put down.” — Kennebec Journal   Maine Sunday Telegram, Sunday, August 29, 2010 Captivating detective again hunts a Maine killer By LLOYD FERRISS   Readers of James Hayman’s second mystery novel are in for a treat.   He delivers a cast of tantalizingly complex characters. The setting of his book – Portland and its environs – is so accurately described that you practically see detective Michael McCabe driving familiar snow-covered streets in a city threatened by a psychopath.   McCabe, a fictional ace detective of the Portland Police department, is the hero of Hayman’s first novel, “The Cutting” (2009). He returns in the aptly named “The Chill of Night.”   McCabe’s a dynamo of focused energy, so intent on finding the slayer of young attorney Lainie Goff that his own girlfriend, Kyra, moves out of their shared apartment to escape his single-track involvement in the case.   A former New York detective, McCabe is blessed with a photographic mind. If he’s handed a slip of paper with a phone number, he glances at it once, then tosses the paper away. The number is stored in his brain forever. McCabe can memorize the contents of a room in a flash, or absorb the content of a letter left on a suspect’s desk.   But McCabe has his problems. He has a love-hate relationship with his ex-wife. He’s proud of his girlfriend, a Yale educated, up-and-coming Portland artist, yet daunted by her cultured upbringing.   The detective teeters on the edge of alcoholism, but is kept on track by his police partner, the memorable Maggie Savage.   Hayman’s mystery opens on a bitterly cold afternoon a couple of days before Christmas. Attorney Goff waits alone in the downtown high-rise that houses the prestigious law firm where she works. She plans to leave the next day for a two-week vacation on Aruba. But she waits to learn if the directors of Palmer Milliken, conferring at a meeting before the holiday, name her a partner in the firm.   Though in her mid-20’s, young to be a partner, Goff is already a capable lawyer. She’s also intimate with the firm’s managing partner, Henry “Hank” Ogden. Hayman describes him as: “Her mentor. Her boss. Her lover. Elegant