In LAPD homicide detective Charlotte Justice, acclaimed crime writer Paula L. Woods has created a heroine for our times. Caught between her proud African American family and colleagues who still canโt deal with diversity, Detective Justice returns to an investigation she once had to leave behindโand enters an explosive realm of haunting lies and dangerous truths.
Thirteen years ago, Charlotte Justiceโs husband and child were murdered in the familyโs own driveway. Now, following a particularly violent incident involving a fellow officer, Charlotte is on the edge, bedeviled by bloody memories and living on single malt scotch and antacids. But a cold case is bringing her back to work . . . and a department shrink is willing to help her through itโas long as she is willing to help herself. So Charlotte resumes the hunt for the shooter who gunned down a prominent Republican businessman, his young wife, and two Muslim business associates outside an elegant Los Angeles restaurant. The case has turned hot because Charlotteโs initial suspect has suddenly surfaced as the cause of a freak auto accident.
The trouble is, the suspect is in a coma and the businessman he presumably shot is still hovering between life and death. Once Charlotte and her colleagues start digging, the investigation careens in unpredictable directions, from the meddling of a smooth-talking FBI agent to the bizarre drama unfolding around the victimโs family and business. While Charlotte is accustomed to white cops, black cops, and perps of every shade and persuasion, this case is stranger than even she could have guessed. Worst of all, itโs also about her, her contentious family, and the Justicesโ terrible secret.
In this pivotal installment in her acclaimed series, Paula L. Woods returns at full throttle, weaving a brilliant tale filled with nail-biting suspense, twisted relationships, and a strong woman driven by a passion for justice and a hunger for the truth.
From the Hardcover edition.
From Publishers Weekly
In Woods's searing fourth Charlotte Justice novel (after 2003's Dirty Laundry), the troubled, hot-tempered LAPD detective looks into an attack on politically connected Chuck Zuccari, the elderly head of a successful toy company; his pregnant young wife, Alma; and their business associates, intellectual African-American Muslims Malik and Habiba Shareef. It's a complicated case: Zuccari's dysfunctional family and business are rife with infighting; his company is being defrauded; the FBI is investigating the too squeaky-clean Shareefs. Meanwhile, Charlotte wrestles with professional demands, racial and gender prejudice, and her interfering lover, Dr. Aubrey Scott, and family. Set in 1993, this multilayered novel may at first confuse new readers with its many plot threads and characters from previous books in the series, but all will appreciate its stunning conclusion as well as its rich portrait of LAPD politics and of the African-American community. (Jan.)
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From Booklist
Aptly named LAPD homicide detective Charlotte Justice, haunted by the long-ago murder of her husband and daughter, is obsessed with helping other victims find the closure she craves. Prickly and outspoken, she loathes smaller injustices, too, ever-alert to the casual racist and sexist slurs that permeate her profession (though she calls an elderly driver a "Q-Tip"). In her fourth novel (following Dirty Laundry , 2003), a missing suspect from an old case turns up injured in a car accident, reigniting an investigation into a drive-by shooting that left a toy company tycoon in a coma. As Justice unravels the tycoon's family's secrets, new clues bring to light secrets in her own family--and the lies that have been told to keep them. Though the byzantine plot will please readers who enjoy unraveling snarls, procedural fans who like a fast pace will do better elsewhere, as nearly all of Strange Bedfellows unfolds in flashback, interior monologue, or talky conversation. Further dampening the excitement, several discoveries happen offstage. Still, Woods'unique mix of moral outrage, social commentary, and therapy definitely has an audience. Keir Graff
Copyright ยฉ American Library Association. All rights reserved