Charlotte Justice

She saves curfew-breaking black doctor Lance Mitchell from a potentially lethal beating from some white officers -- only to discover nearby the body of one-time radical Cinque Lewis, the thug who years before had murdered her husband and young daughter.

Was it a random shooting or was Mitchell responsible? And what brought Lewis back to a city he'd long since fled?

Charlotte's quest for the truth behind Cinque's death will set her at odds with the LAPD's hierarchy, plunge her into the intricacies of LA's gang-banging politics to its black elite, and lead her into deep emotional waters with Mitchell's partner (and her old flame) Dr. Aubrey Scott.

Paula L. Woods has created a tough, tart, and totally original heroine -- and is sure to draw comparisons to the writing of Walter Mosley, Sue Grafton, and Michael Connelly.