First published 2015
Philadelphia Homicide Sergeant Matt Payne finds himself under scrutiny when the combative leader of the Citizens Oversight Committee turns up shot dead on his row house porch. The committee had been targeting police shootings, particularly those involving the twenty-seven-year-old Payne, dubbed the "Wyatt Earp of the Main Line." As protesters flood the streets and the city threatens to explode, Payne becomes a suspect in the leader's death. Ordered to keep a low profile, he continues working his current case: the murder of a reporter, his wife, and child. The journalist had been investigating drug stories for Pulitzer Prize winner Mickey O'Hara when someone killed the family and stapled a warning note to the reporter's chest demanding the drug coverage stop. Payne suspects the committee leader's death connects to something larger, but he must navigate the investigation while avoiding becoming the next target. He knows that backing down isn't an option, even though continuing forward could cost him his life.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, action
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, corruption, investigation
Setting: Philadelphia, Main Line
Period: 21st-century
400 pages · Hardcover · G.P. Putnam's Sons
Content warnings: violence