A new taskforce takes over, but Clarice goes to Memphis to search Catherine’s apartment. Chilton secretly records Clarice’s conversation and taunts Lecter with the truth about her manipulation.Ĭhilton moves Lecter to Memphis, where he sends the Senator on the false trail for suspect “Billy” Rubin. Crawford tries unsuccessfully to follow Lecter’s clue, while Chilton makes a real deal with the Senator. In exchange, Lecter forces Clarice to divulge traumatic childhood memories. With new urgency in the case, Clarice bargains with Lecter using a false deal and Lecter guesses that Buffalo Bill began killing after a rejection for sex reassignment surgery. Catherine, at the bottom of a dark oubliette, concocts a plan to trap Gumb’s dog and barter for her life. The killer makes ritualistic preparations to flay the woman and construct a garment of her and his other victims’ skin. Meanwhile, Buffalo Bill-real name Jame Gumb-abducts Senator Ruth Martin’s daughter, Catherine, and traps her in his basement. Connecting the two murders through this unique detail, Clarice again interviews Lecter. In Clarice’s return visits to the museum, Pilcher identifies another moth from Klaus’s head and shows Clarice a live specimen. Clarice finds a cocoon in Kimberly’s throat, which she takes to entomologists Pilcher and Roden to identify. Clarice examines the body of Kimberly Emberg, noting changes in the killer’s behavior that align with Lecter’s theories. When Buffalo Bill’s newest victim washes up in the Elk River, Crawford invites Clarice to fingerprint the corpse. Clarice returns to Lecter for more information, but Lecter wants to discuss Buffalo Bill. Tracking down the lead, Clarice finds the preserved head of “Klaus”-a lover of Lecter’s former patient and victim-in a storage unit.

Lecter refuses to complete her questionnaire, but when another inmate assaults Clarice, Lecter gives her a clue to follow. At the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, Clarice meets the arrogant administrator Dr. As his personnel are busy working on the investigation of Buffalo Bill, Crawford asks Starling to help complete the FBI’s profiling database by interviewing imprisoned serial killer Dr.

The book opens with Agent Jack Crawford pulling Clarice Starling out of training for a special assignment.

Silence of the lambs novel series