Dead Lines

Hours after he claims to have solved a decades-old murder whose solution has evaded Pittsburgh Police, crime writer Parker Stevens is found murdered in his garage. When detective Lydia Barnwell is assigned to investigate, she and her partner, Lyle Jeffrey, learn the victim had a tangled personal life and financial issues that threatened bankruptcy. Could this provide a motive for his slaying?

While Jeffrey digs into his background, Lydia looks into the cold case, convinced his revelation about the case may have caused the early killer to strike again. She immediately faces another mystery, for the writer has left few clues about his research. Lydia peels back the layers of the case with an intensity that borders on obsession, defying the instructions of her boss. What drives her to risk her career to bring a killer to justice? Both her partner and her lover, borough police chief Calvin Mayfield, grow concerned over her focus on a long-forgotten victim. Meanwhile, Lydia's personal life intervenes, complicating her search for justice for two victims.

She pursues his investigation with fierce determination, leading her to a convicted pedophile who becomes a suspect in both cases, leading her to a deadly chase and a shocking revelation about the killer's true identity and forcing her to confront a demon from her path.

Like its predecessors, this third book in the Lydia Barnwell series of police procedurals has earned it glowing, five-star ratings.