Black Water

February 4, 2002
After 10 California noir cop thrillers, Parker may have finally settled on a series character to anchor at least a portion of his work: Merci Rayborn, a single mom consumed by her job as a homicide detective with the Orange County Sheriff's Department. The Blue Hour
and Edgar-nominated Red Light
both chronicled the professional fall from grace that left Rayborn a black sheep in the department, and she remains a fascinating (if somewhat distressing) character to watch. Without her colleagues' full cooperation, she plows into a thorny double shooting: a beautiful young woman, Gwen Wildcraft, is found dead in her lavish hillside home, while her husband, sheriff deputy Archie Wildcraft, lies in the garden with a bullet in his head. Archie manages to survive, but has little memory of what happened. Growing evidence, however, indicates that he murdered his wife, then failed at trying to kill himself. Despite the media clamoring for answers and political pressure mounting to arrest Archie, Rayborn's instinct tells her this was not a bungled murder/suicide. Instead, the case points her in other directions, toward an upstart biotech company, Russian mobsters and Archie's nearly impenetrable past. Parker takes great strides in unfurling Rayborn's life of quiet desperation and that of her immediate social circle—her father, her partner on the force and her young son. Though lacking the kind of explosive finale that marks most of Parker's novels, this latest is a showcase for mood, setting and pace. $150,000 marketing campaign; national author tour.

February 15, 2002
Parker serves up his third Orange County, CA, police procedural featuring Merci Rayborn, the brash young detective last seen in Red Light. This time out, Merci and partner Paul Zamorra investigate a gory crime: beautiful, young Gwen Wildcraft is found shot dead in her palatial home while husband Archie, an OCPD deputy, lies shot through the head in their garden, gravely wounded but alive. Was it a botched murder/suicide? Was there marital discord? How could the Wildcrafts afford a million-dollar home on a deputy's salary? Convinced of Archie's innocence, Merci does everything in her power to clear him, but evidence mounts against him. As usual, the real story here centers on Merci and her son, Tim, as Parker again creates realistic characters with true emotions. There may be some confusion for new readers, as Parker makes many references to earlier Merci Rayborn books, but she is sure to become popular with new fans as well as old. Recommended for all fiction collections. Rebecca House Stankowski, Purdue Univ. Calumet Lib., Hammond, IN

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2002
\deflang1033\pard\plain\f3\fs24 Merci Rayborn, homicide detective for the Orange County, California, sheriff's department, has a crime scene that's a puzzler. And it's going to be very high profile--it's in an upscale enclave of million-dollar estates, and one of the victims is a cop. Gwen Wildcraft is dead, and her husband, Archie, is unconscious with a severe head wound. Wildcraft is a patrol officer with the department, and his gun appears to be the murder weapon. Merci's superiors would prefer a quick call of murder-suicide, but her instincts tell her that's the wrong conclusion. Why would Archie choose to end this seemingly idyllic life when all who knew them said they were deeply in love? When Archie regains consciousness, his memory is spotty. \plain\f3\fs24" Now\plain\f3\fs24 he's suicidal because he wants to rejoin Gwen, but before he does, there is a vengeance killing to perform. The third entry in the Rayborn series is an excellent crime novel driven by Parker's recurrent theme of loss and isolation through illness or injury. Every significant character is coping with some type of loss, and their response to it is what defines them. A thoughtful, multilayered tale in which crime is a catalyst rather than the centerpiece. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)