The Black Rose Banker by Bert Entwistle

This review first appeared on Reader Views. Read the Reader Views version here. 

FBI Special Agent Bert Deverou thinks he’s investigating a bank robbery, but the case is the most complex of his career. Instead of just being on the trail of a criminal who pulls off heists, taking down accomplices along the way, Deverou discovers he’s on the trail of a serial killer. What’s more, this serial killer is a woman who becomes only the ninth woman ever on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. While readers know the identity of the serial killer from early on as The Black Rose Banker follows her side of the story as well, how the two main characters will ultimately find each other remains up in the air until nearly the last second.

The Black Rose Banker is a well-paced mystery novella. Not rushing too quickly, but moving along smoothly, readers will easily switch between the FBI agent’s and the serial killer’s narratives. It is difficult to pull off two narratives—with one chasing the other—in novella form, but author Bert Entwistle has deftly done so. Readers will follow along with Deverou as he is on the trail of Winter Day—or at least that’s what he thinks her name is, and will revel in his discoveries as he draws ever closer to her. However, they will also begin to worry about Bert as he begins to turn more and more to alcohol. All that is to say that Bert Deverou is a compelling character.

Winter Day—as she is often called in the novella, is also an interesting character. She is remarkably intelligent, seductively charming, easily bored, and definitively cold. While at times she is perhaps a tad too sexualized, it is important to remember that many serial killers experience a sexual component to their killings.

Without spoiling it, the ending is also intriguingly open-ended. While Bert and Winter are finally in person again, how their interaction plays out is open to interpretation. This is an engaging way to end a book as it leaves the readers wanting more.

The Black Rose Banker is a compelling mystery novella with two distinct narratives—one chasing the other. The main characters of Bert and Winter will bring readers in, and the ending will leave readers eager for Entwistle’s next book.

The Black Rose Banker by Bert Entwistle, Black Mule Press