First published 2000
Kate Martinelli arrives at a crime scene that defies easy answers. A muscular man lies dead, handcuffed and strangled, with burn marks from a stun gun and candy found in his pocket. The obvious suspect is his wife, a woman he regularly abused, but she appears too physically frail to overpower him and possesses an unshakeable alibi. Kate and her partner Al Hawkin find themselves without leads until a second corpse appears. This victim died the same way: stunned, restrained, and strangled, also carrying a candy bar. The dead man was a convicted rapist. When newspapers begin suggesting vigilante justice, a third murder pulls Kate and Al deeper into the investigation. They discover a network of calculated violence that extends well beyond San Francisco's borders. The killer operates from a hit list rooted in something far more primitive than simple revenge.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, found-family
Setting: San Francisco
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
386 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Bantam Books
Content warnings: abuse, domestic-violence, violence