The Proving — Thomas Szollosi

Edgar Lamp is not your garden-variety mass murderer. Like most serial killers, he isn't too fond of other people. What sets Lamp apart is his technique: he has a unique way of separating his victims from their internal organs. Call it his signature.

Lieutenant Husky Martin, LAPD Homicide, is the one who finally apprehends Edgar Lamp. The only thing left to do is ship him back to Texas for trial. But Lamp is not the type to go quietly, as his unfortunate escorts find out. Now Martin has to go after him again -- and this time, Lamp is after him, too. Martin likes to work alone but he does have a partner of sorts on the Lamp case: Garth Cheesbro, an old college friend who has chosen a more sensible career. He is a writer. His latest subject is Edgar Lamp.

The List of Lamp's victims is growing fast, and the story one eyewitness tells is almost too bizarre to believe. Almost, until Lamp pulls off his pet project: he calls it Multiple Grandmas. After Lieutenant Martin sees the bodies he realizes his enemy isn't just savage -- he's downright eerie.

But Lamp understands it all. His ability to kill is his miracle. He remembers the words of his hated grandfather, the religious fanatic: "The whole world wants a miracle," the old man used to say, "and the miracle is in The Proving." Edgar Lamp believes he has a lot of Proving to do.