All The Pretty Girls

All the Pretty Girls introduces Nashville homicide detective Taylor Jackson through a case that becomes interstate when a serial killer begins leaving the hands of previous victims at new crime scenes. The Southern Strangler's path through the Southeast creates a jurisdictional tangle that draws in the FBI and a television reporter whose personal connection to the story makes her simultaneously an asset and a liability.

Joyce Bean narrates the first Taylor Jackson novel with a Tennessee register that suits Ellison's setting. Bean gives Taylor the tough competence of a woman who has fought to reach her rank, and the romantic subplot between Taylor and FBI profiler John Baldwin is handled with enough restraint to feel earned rather than obligatory. The serial killer procedural format works well in audio, where the chapter-by-chapter reveal of the pattern keeps the listener engaged.