On Oscar night in Hollywood, and after years of climbing the entertainment ladder, the beautiful and talented media darling Meredith Johansen finally takes home a gold statue.

Across town, rookie Detective Patricia Norelli hopes of breaking through her own glass ceiling with a promotion in the LAPD. Their paths unexpectedly collide when Johansen is discovered dead in her Bel Air home, only hours after Oscar night festivities ended.

With a note but few clues, authorities rule it a suicide, but Norelli’s instinct says murder—a hunch worth risking a pending promotion to prove otherwise. As a list of suspects emerges, she and partner Detective Stuart Brown find themselves entangled in a chaotic series of lies.

Trying to find the real killer amidst a web of deception, Norelli & Brown lose ground when several key suspects turn up dead. Then, posing as bait, Norelli suddenly finds herself in the trap of a pathological serial killer.

If you enjoy Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch, you’ll enjoy David Temple’s Pat Norelli.

82 MERCER Publishing