"Santa Fe detective Denise Aragon must outsmart and outrun corrupt lawyers and judges to stop a celebrity artist who kills for his supplies. The latest victim is the wife of a man she hates: the cold-hearted criminal lawyer, Walter Fager. For the first time in his life he wants the police to succeed. But his twisted protégé, Marcy Thornton, gleefully defends the killer using maneuvers Fager never imagined. Aragon pits lawyer against lawyer to keep her case on life support and enlists the FBI to bypass a state judge trading rulings for Thornton's sexual favors. The lead FBI agent reminds Aragon too much of the dead boyfriend who haunts her dreams. He wants romance. She can't handle it. Aragon badly misjudges Fager's grief and Thornton's power. The killing ends. But not the way she planned" --… (more)
This story is a well-thought out debut by James R. Scarantino, who according to his bio, had been a prosecutor, defense attorney, and investigative reporter. Antagonist Cody Geronimo’s thoughts were so bizarre, I had to think twice whether it was due to drugs or just the crazed mind of a cold-blooded serial killer. Cody was an established and very successful artist. People who viewed his work either really loved it or really hated it – no middle ground. I found Aragon to be a knowledgeable and gutsy protagonist. This is different from the standard ‘whodunit’. We know the killer. What we don’t know is the extent to which people will go to in order to pursue or eschew justice. And, the best news is this is the ground floor of a brand new crime series. Rating: 4 out of 5. (