The Christopher Killer

Published in 2006, The Christopher Killer is book one in the Forensic Mystery series written by American author Alane Ferguson. Set in Silverton, Colorado, the story follows 17 year-old Cameryn Mahoney, a plucky scientific teenager intent on becoming a forensic pathologist. When her father Patrick Mahoney, the county coroner, agrees to hire Cameryn as his new assistant, her dream comes true. But Cameryn’s dream turns into a deadly nightmare when one of her friends is slaughtered in town by a serial murderer called The Christopher Killer. Determined to use her scientific acumen to identify the murderer, Cameryn gets in over her head when the killer might be targeting her next. The Christopher Killer was named an Edgar Award Nominee in 2007.

Narrated in the third-person-limited perspective, the story begins in Silverton, Colorado. Cameryn Mahoney is a 17-year-old high-school student who excels in science. Cameryn voices her desire to become a criminal pathologist, a desire that is met with dismay by her father, Patrick, the county coroner, and Mammaw, her grandmother. Mammaw explains to Cameryn that obsessing over death and grisly crimes is unhealthy for a young girl, and is bound to get boring after awhile. Cameryn pays little mind to Mammaw’s warning and begs her father to hire her as his new assistant. Patrick finally agrees, and Cameryn shows great promise at her job early on. But when a murder strikes the town of Silverton for the first time in years, Cameryn’s constitution is immediately tested. Upon seeing her first corpse, Cameryn falls ill and vomits. At the crime scene, Cameryn meets handsome Deputy Justin Crowley, who works for Patrick.

The following day, Cameryn goes to the Grand restaurant, where she works as a server alongside 19-year-old Rachel Geller. Deputy Crowley shows up to say hi to Cameryn. Rachel throws herself at Deputy Crowley, but feels jilted when the officer asks for Cameryn instead. At school, Cameryn gossips with her best friend, Lyric Daphne, about Rachel. Cameryn then gets an urgent call from Patrick alerting her that another murder has taken place in Silverton.



When Cameryn rushes to the crime scene, she is mortified to see her friend and coworker, Rachel, lying dead. Cameryn and the authorities believe they have a serial killer on their hands when a calling card is found in Rachel’s bra: a St. Christopher medallion, the same medal that was left on the last dead body discovered in Silverton. Dr. Moore, the local pathologist, evicts Cameryn from the autopsy due to her smart aleck attitude. Cameryn then speaks to Deputy Crowley about the case, during which she discovers that Patrick dislikes Crowley because Crowley used to date her mom, Hannah, before Hannah met and married Patrick. Hannah abandoned Cameryn as a young child, a scar Cameryn’s never quite healed from. Because of this, Cameryn dislikes Crowley as well.

Shocked by Rachel’s death, Cameryn looks to place blame on any and everyone. She assumes Rachel’s longtime admirer, Adam Stinson, is the killer. Adam is the Gothic weirdo in Silverton who secretly harbors yearbook photos of Rachel in his basement. Cameryn does some snooping and, with little evidence to go on, concludes that Adam is not the killer. Cameryn also suspects Crowley to be the Christopher Killer at one point, but he too checks out with airtight alibis.

Dr. Raymond Jewel, a famous television psychic, shows up in Silverton with intentions of helping solve the murders. Dr. Jewel conducts a psychic reading for Cameryn, Lyric and Adam, claiming that Rachel’s spirit is communicating with him. Cameryn doesn’t believe Dr. Jewel, but Lyric does and becomes attracted to him. After awhile, Cameryn begins to believe Dr. Jewel’s theory that Adam is not the killer, but that it could still be Deputy Crowley. Cameryn pays a second visit to Dr. Jewel, during which she notices him mixing a pungent chemical called DMSO into his beverage. DMSO leaves people with garlic-breath and brown stains on their hands, characteristics Cameryn distinctly recalls from observing Rachel’s autopsy. Cameryn tells Dr. Moore about this substance, but he laughingly refuses to run the proper tests. Suspicious of Dr. Jewel, Cameryn sneaks into his hotel room while he is giving an interview in hopes of unearthing more clues.



Cameryn hides under the bed when Dr. Jewel suddenly returns to his hotel room. She remains there for over an hour, during which she eavesdrops on Dr. Jewel’s phone conversation. Dr. Jewel makes reference to a rental car, which directly contradicts his alibi on the night Rachel was murdered. Cameryn is now certain that Dr. Jewel is the Christopher Killer. Just as Dr. Jewel leaves the room, Cameryn’s phone rings. Dr. Jewel reenters the room, finds Cameryn hiding under the bed and confesses to being the Christopher Killer. He then tells Cameryn he’s going to kill her next. Dr. Moore, the person who phoned Cameryn, subsequently calls the police after Cameryn fails to answer the phone. Dr. Moore knows that Cameryn always answers, and that she must have gone investigating at Dr. Jewel’s hotel when she failed to pick up her phone this time.

Deputy Crowley and Sheriff Jacobs race to the scene and rescue Cameryn in the nick of time. They arrest Dr. Jewel after Dr. Moore shows test results proving Cameryn’s theory regarding the DMSO. Deputy Crowley gives a letter to Cameryn. Cameryn opens the letter and learns it comes from her mother, Hannah. Hannah explains that she ran away and left the family behind because she could not cope with the death of Cameryn’s three-year-old twin sister. Cameryn never even knew she had a sister. The novel ends with Cameryn dialing Hannah’s phone number in an attempt to reconnect with her mother.

The Christopher Killer is the first book in Alane Ferguson’s Forensic Mystery series, followed by The Angel of Death, The Circle of Blood, and The Dying Breath. Ferguson won the Edgar Award for Best Young Adult Mystery novel in 1990 for Show Me the Evidence.