The Bone Polisher: A Simeon Grist Mystery (Simeon Grist Series)

Begged by a desperate youth to protect television star and psychic Max Grover from a rampaging serial killer, private investigator Simeon Grist is unable to prevent the murder and seeks out the secret shared by the victims. Simeon Grist is a hip, thirty-something P.I. with a nose for trouble. In The Bone Polisher, Simeon is on the trail of a brutal killer who is preying on Los Angeles's gay community. The murderer is called the Bone Polisher, the ancient Chinese name for those who returned the dead to their homes, because all his victims are killed in the same gruesome way. And all his victims harbor a secret, a secret the Bone Polisher is desperate to reveal - at any cost.

In this next entry in Timothy Hallinan's highly praised series, private investigator Simeon Grist trails a serial killer whose methods appear to be based on an ancient Chinese legend.