Killing Critics is the third book in the Kathleen Mallory

Kathleen Mallory

Kathleen 'Kathy' Mallory is a fictional New York City Police Department detective featured in nine dark mystery novels by author Carol O'Connell...

 series written by Carol O'Connell

Carol O'Connell

Carol O'Connell is an author of crime fiction, with a large series of crime books focusing around the character Kathy Mallory. The first book of nine novels about Mallory is Mallory's Oracle which was sent to England where it was auctioned in Europe, successfully. When it was brought back to the...

.
Mallory investigates the murder of Dean Starr, an artist killed in the middle of an exhibition. The killer made the murder appear to be performance art.

Mallory and her partner, Sergeant Riker, find links to a double murder that occurred 12 years ago in an art gallery owned by the same man. Mallory's late father, Markowitz, was on that case and although he got a confession and a conviction, he never for a minute believed that he had the right man. The NYPD considers the old case closed, and will not allow them to officially investigate.

Many of the same characters are involved in both killings:

• J.L. Quinn, art critic whose niece was one of the first victims
• Avril Koozeman, gallery owner
• Emma Sue Halloran, former art critic, now a "culturecrat"

The New York City art world is a key character in the novel. The book also expands on Mallory's troubled childhood.