Andy Brazil

Patricia Cornwell

In Charlotte, North Carolina, Deputy Chief Virginia West faces a chilling series of murders targeting visiting businessmen, while the city’s police force struggles to protect its citizens from a calculating killer. As the investigation intensifies, the gritty, demanding world of big-city law enforcement unfolds through the perspectives of three determined crimefighters. Set against a city steeped in history and unrest, the novel explores courage, loyalty, ambition, and the pressures of justice in a community under siege.

Patricia Cornwell

In Richmond, Virginia, a city struggling with rising crime and a troubled past, Police Chief Judy Hammer is brought in to reform a deeply resistant police force. Still grieving her husband’s death, Hammer faces hostility from officers, civic leaders, and the mayor while working alongside her formidable deputy, Virginia West. As corruption, scandal, and a wave of robberies spiral toward murder, the investigation exposes the dangerous tensions beneath the city’s Southern traditions and modern ambitions. A gritty police thriller, the novel explores institutional power, loyalty, grief, and the human cost of a city in decline.

Patricia Cornwell

When a governor’s ambitious plan to curb speeding turns into a public-relations disaster, the resulting chaos threatens to ignite an unlikely conflict between Virginia and Tangier Island. Police Chief Judy Hammer and reporter-turned-law-enforcement officer Andy Brazil must work to restore order as political maneuvering, local rivalries, and mounting tensions complicate the case. Set against the distinctive landscape and culture of coastal Virginia, this fast-paced crime novel explores authority, media influence, community identity, and the unpredictable consequences of reform. Patricia Cornwell combines sharp social observation with suspense and vividly drawn characters in this installment of the Judy Hammer and Andy Brazil series.