First published 2010
Pearl Whitman lies murdered in a Manhattan demolition building, her body brutally mutilated with the killer's signature mark on her breast. This wealthy victim joins two others killed by the same serial murderer who targets affluent women. Then the killer strikes differently. Louis Markowitz, a police detective investigating the murder spree, becomes the fourth victim. His death transforms everything for Kathleen Mallory, a computer specialist who prefers working alone at her screen in the department's inner offices. Markowitz was her adoptive father. Despite her antisocial nature and comfort with solitary technical work, Mallory abandons her desk and enters the field. She will use any method necessary to track down the person who killed the man who raised her.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, revenge, solitary-protagonist
Setting: Manhattan
Period: 20th-century
320 pages · Paperback · btb
Content warnings: death, graphic-violence, murder