Ray and his partner, Margaret Loftus, have been assigned to investigate the suspicious death of Isaac Steiner. Steiner is a resident at a condominium complex called Friar's Close, touted as a new experiment in community living. Steiner was a social scientist, ostensibly conducting research on various aspects of community living.

As Koepp probes deeper into the life of Dr. Steiner it becomes obvious that the esteemed Dr. Steiner was not a nice man. He had a reputation as a Lothario, and had been accused of rape. However, he was a well known sociologist and had considerable funds at his disposal for research.

Other researchers at Friar's Close are determined to convince Koepp to direct his efforts toward the theory that Dr. Steiner's murder was committed by an outsider. They maintain that Friar's Close is dedicated to establishing stable family and community relationships. By this token, the violent stabbing death of Dr. Steiner is a totally foreign concept in their environment. From his initial inspection of the situation, Koepp is not at all convinced that this is the case.

Mind Games is a police procedural par excellence. C.J. Koehler describes in minute detail the steps the police follow in investigating the crime. As each case is unique, so is the proper approach for investigation. With a limited number of suspects, alibis can be checked, but in the death of Dr. Steiner, there are literally hundreds of potential killers. Therefore, the most efficient line of inquiry seems to be through the establishment of a viable motive.

Although he is quite conscious that he should retain his objectivity in the case, Koepp becomes involved with one of the suspects. In addition, this involvement leads him to use methods definitely not recommended in the police manual. As a result of this attention to detail, there are parts of the book in which there is not much action. For the detail freak, such as myself, this is not a problem, but for those who prefer a lot of thing happening, the pace of Mind Games might be a little too slow.

Character development is another area in which Koehler excels. Poor Koepp! He empathizes so well with the other characters that he cannot help becoming emotionally involved with one of his potential suspects – a blatant wrong on the part of the investigator. Koepp, of course, knows what is happening and hates himself for it. In stark contrast, Margaret is the consummate professional. She reads the scene and the participants objectively and with great detail. Not much gets past this lady.

Although not a major ingredient in the book, there are occasional flashes of gentle humor. One of the researchers remarks that Steiner's death must be the work of an intruder because their community is a violence-free environment. Margaret responds that the fact they have a dead body would indicate they haven't worked all the bugs out yet.

Mind Games is the long awaited sequel to Profile, the first book featuring Ray Koepp. Hopefully, we will get more opportunities to meet Ray and his friends again soon.

--Andy Plonka