Ferguson, Alane.
THE CHRISTOPHER KILLER : A FORENSIC MYSTERY
New York : Sleuth/Viking, 2006.
IL YA
ISBN 0670060089

(3 booktalks)

The Christopher Killer reads like an episode of CSI. It’s a look at the world of forensic investigation through the eyes of a bright and intuitive teenage girl. 17-year-old Cameryn Mahoney wants to be a forensic pathologist and has talked her father into hiring her as his assistant.  Her father is the county coroner for a small, rural community in Colorado.  They haven't had a murder there in decades, so her father thinks there can't be any harm in letting his daughter tag along to death scenes and assist with autopsies. Unfortunately, he’s wrong. One of the first deaths Cameryn investigates turns out to be the murder of someone she knows.  It appears the victim was murdered by a serial killer who strangles his victims and leaves a St. Christopher medal on the body. This is a great story with mystery and suspense that also weaves in a long-kept secret about Cameryn’s family.  It’s the first in a series.  (Jean B. Bellavance for Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Awards, 2007-2008)

Booktalk #2

Do you like CSI?  If you do, you will love this book.  Cameryn Mahoney is the seventeen-year-old daughter of a county coroner in sleepy Silverton, CO.  She wants to become a forensic pathologist and talks her father into letting her become his assistant.  She has no idea that one of the first deaths she will investigate will be that of her friend, Rachel Geller. Rachel is the fourth victim of a serial killer who strangles his victims and leaves a St. Christopher medal on their bodies. She must put aside her emotional attachments to her friend and instead look at the forensic evidence to help find the murderer.  She struggles to decide whether to keep faith with science or be sucked in by a charismatic psychic who comes to town to assist in finding the murderer, or as some believe, is there to turn the search into a self-promoting media blitz. In her relentless pursuit of the truth, Cameryn puts herself in danger of becoming the fifth victim of the Christopher Killer.  (Mary M. Silgals, Trident Academy, for South Carolina Young Adult Book Awards, 2008-2009)

Booktalk #3

Aspiring forensic pathologist Cameryn Mahoney convinces her father, who is the coroner in a small town, to hire her as an assistant to help him solve the mystery of a serial killer who leaves a St Christopher medal with each victim. She puts herself in danger when the next victim turns out to be her friend Rachel. (Florida Teen Read, 2009)