December 1, 2017
While Sacramento cop John Penley deals with the family fallout of At What Cost, his partner Det. Paula Newberry has worse troubles when she is linked to the death of a former officer. Soon, there's political pressure to blame Newberry for stolen street drugs and the actions of crooked cops. The riveting police procedural will appeal to readers of Michael Connelly's "Harry Bosch" books.--LH
Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
October 16, 2017
Loyalty, revenge, and politics drive L’Etoile’s tight sequel to 2016’s At What Cost. When Sacramento, Calif., detectives John Penley and Paula Newberry investigate a murder and a series of street drug thefts, they conclude that the crimes may be committed by a group of corrupt cops whose leader, Charles Sherman, is in prison. Sherman, a former cop who’s appealing his conviction on multiple counts of fraud, corruption, and drug possession, appears to be targeting those who testified against him. Sherman has Newberry in his crosshairs, trying to ruin her career and her personal life. But how did Sherman’s fingerprints end up at a crime scene when he was locked up at the time? Each respectful of the other’s detective’s skills, Penley and Newberry work well together while wading through a morass of double-crossing colleagues and shady politicians. L’Etoile, a former associate prison warden, keeps the suspense high while illuminating the culture of criminals and the ties that bind cops. Agent: Elizabeth K. Kracht, Kimberley Cameron and Associates.
October 1, 2017
Just because you've sent up a crooked cop for 10 years doesn't mean he can't still run rings around you, both while he's in prison and after he's freed on a technicality.Before she came to partner with Detective John Penley, Detective Paula Newberry worked Internal Affairs, where her crowning achievement was tossing out the rotten apples in the Solano Sacramento Placer Narcotics Enforcement Team. Her prize catch, Charles Sherman of the Solano County Sheriff's Department, was convicted on a raft of charges and packed off to the California State Prison-Sacramento. He's still there when Larry Burger, another SSPNET officer who testified against him, is murdered, followed shortly by the death of Burger's former partner, Sgt. Bobby Wing. Paula is certain Sherman has arranged the deaths, but it doesn't matter what she thinks, since a mountain of forensic evidence--weapons, hair, DNA--marks Paula herself as the killer. Sacramento County District Attorney Linda Clarke, watching her ancient case against Sherman fall apart, is determined to pin the blame on Paula even before she finds out about all that evidence. As John and Paula sweat to beat an impossible deadline to link Sherman to the recent murders, the bad news keeps piling up: Sherman, dealt a Get Out of Jail Free card, bids farewell to CSP-SAC, and Paula is savaged by the media, learns that her house has been set afire, and gets shot by one of Sherman's many lowlife associates. Luckily for her, there's no more honor among the stubbornly unmemorable thieves genetically fated to double-cross each other than there is among the equally unmemorable law enforcement community of greater Sacramento.L'Etoile (At What Cost, 2016) vividly evokes the chaotic license to kill that pervasive official corruption releases. Too bad he's determined to weigh this tale down with so many procedural details and acronyms that even the characters complain about them.
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November 1, 2017
Remember Sherman? Charlie Sherman? one cop says early on in this hugely entertaining thriller. He was once a high-ranking officer with the Sacramento Police Department, but he managed to corrupt fellow officers into becoming moonlighting meth dealers selling dope out of the evidence room. Now, after Detective Paula Newberry busted his operation, he's safely tucked away in a maximum-security prison. Yet he haunts the opening chapters. How can his blood turn up at a crime scene? A dying ex-cop croaks Newberry's name. Another murder is done, this time with a hammer from Newberry's workshop. Her signature appears on a fat check drawn on department funds. And more. Somehow Sherman has managed to link these mysterious goings-on to Detective Newberry. While waiting for everything to be explained, the reader can enjoy pages of sprightly writing that move the story effortlessly forward. There's an undercurrent of droll humor in the dialogue, as when the beleaguered police chief, at risk of erupting, threatens to turn up in a city-sponsored anger-management class. Then, in a riveting scene, Charlie Sherman steps out of the shadows. Shrewdly plotted.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)