Was Sara a saint caring for her dying husband or a gold-digger with a sketchy background? Did she commit suicide or was she murdered? Before her marriage, Sara lived comfortably without any obvious source of income, unusual for an orphan raised in foster care. As Davie digs deeper, she unearths Sara's troubled past and a viper's nest of villains who are willing to kill to keep their secrets hidden. "Sassy and analytical, L.A. Detective Davie Richards utilizes 'shoe leather and minutiae' to unravel a brilliantly staged fake suicide. Seamless prose, tightly crafted clues, and surprising twists make a memorable police procedural. Brew the coffee for the graveyard shift, as you'll be up all night reading."—K.J. Howe, best-selling author of and "Patricia Smiley tackles Michael Connelly territory and succeeds with a realistic, compelling police procedural in the badlands of contemporary Los Angeles. Detective Davie Richards is a smart, no-nonsense heroine, and the storytelling had me turning the pages at the expense of mundane activities like sleeping. is an intriguing mystery laced with well-researched law enforcement practices." —Raymond Benson, author of " is a straight ahead jolt of police procedural adrenaline! Like Michael Connelly, Patricia Smiley grabs a hold of you and pulls you into the story without tricks or gimmicks. Just a great story told by a great storyteller. catapults Smiley onto the top tier of crime writers!"— Matt Coyle, Anthony Award-winning author of the Rick Cahill crime series "A thoroughly satisfying and well-crafted police procedural."—