He came to confess a murder. Then he vanished. Now a priest and a detective must race to stop him—one seeking redemption, the other justice. In the quiet of a New York church, a shaken young man steps into the confessional. His voice is raw. He's killed someone—he says he didn't mean to—and he's still holding the hammer. Before Father Duffy can act, the man disappears into the night. The next morning, a woman is found bludgeoned to death. For Father Duffy, the confessor becomes a moral burden he cannot ignore. For NYPD Sergeant Ben Goldsmith, it's a case of motive and madness. Neither man knows the other is searching for the same tormented soul—one trying to save him, the other to stop him. With unforgettable psychological intensity and dual protagonists navigating justice from opposite moral grounds, A Gentle Murderer delivers a soul-deep confessional arc that lingers long after the final page. Grand Master Dorothy Salisbury Davis's classic noir combines elegant prose with haunting emotional depth, earning comparisons to Patricia Highsmith and Graham Greene. Praise for A Gentle Murderer : "A simmering tour de force of detection from both ends of the trail…" — Kirkus Reviews