The Death Mask Murders

<p><em style=color: rgba(128 128 128 1)>Death is just a close shave away.</em><span style=color: rgba(128 128 128 1)> </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(128 128 128 1)>It is February 1918. Somewhere in the bayside suburbs of Melbourne the Death Mask Murderer is lurking engaged in a ritualistic killing spree: shaving the heads of young women strangling them and creating a gruesome memento of each in the form of a death mask.  </span></p><p><span style=color: rgba(128 128 128 1)>As a wild storm batters Brighton Emma Hart an aspiring artist and Max Rushforth a shell-shocked ex-soldier take refuge in the cellar of a derelict mansion the killer's lair and home to his sinister collection of plaster casts. With Max under the spotlight of the police investigation Emma calls on the expertise of crime reporter Reggie da Costa and Dr Silas Bacon an expert in death masks to prove his innocence unaware that she too is in the killer's sights.  </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(128 128 128 1)>Set in the dying days of the Great War 'The Death Mask Murders' examines the treatment of soldiers suffering from 'shell shock' and grapples with the age-old question: Can a person be born evil?  </span></p><p><br></p><p><em style=color: rgba(128 128 128 1)>The Death Mask Murders</em><span style=color: rgba(128 128 128 1)> is the first book in The Reggie da Costa Mysteries. </span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(128 128 128 1)>Laraine Stephens lives in Melbourne Australia. She worked as a teacher-librarian for many years before turning her hand to writing historical crime fiction.  </span></p>