The Price of Innocence

September 2, 2013
Romance comes to Theresa MacLean for the first time since her fiancé’s death, in Black’s satisfying sixth mystery featuring the Cleveland forensic scientist (after Blunt Impact). From the moment Theresa meets David Madison she’s captivated. That the feeling appears to be mutual, though, only serves to make the savvy crime fighter suspicious. Questions plague her. How does he know the murder victim at whose funeral they meet? Is David connected to a 25-year-old fire in Cleveland State University student housing—a fire that’s somehow connected to a series of explosions she’s currently investigating? Are these explosions related to the sudden rash of untimely deaths among a group of old college friends? Everywhere she looks, Theresa sees vague links but no hard evidence. With only her gut to go on, she—and the reader—scud through a series of devilishly clever blind alleys and red herrings, some more contrived than others, until everything ties together. Agent: Vicky Bijur, Vicky Bijur Literary Agency.

November 1, 2013
A series of routine suicide probes turns deadly for a Cleveland crime scene investigator. Fresh from a murder at the site of the planned Cuyahoga County jail (Blunt Impact, 2013, etc.), forensic scientist Theresa McLean and her cousin, homicide detective Frank Patrick, have just finished checking out the self-inflicted wounds on a body in the Bingham, a chic condo complex in the gentrified Warehouse District, when the whole trendy building explodes. The next morning, a quickly recovered Theresa is checking another self-shooter on Lake Shore Boulevard when the uniform with her, 15-year vet Marty Davis, gets shot in a drive-by. Oliver, the medical examiner's toxicologist, identifies the explosive that took down the Bingham as nitrogen triiodide, and the coroner identifies one of the victims as Nairit Kadam, a Middle Easterner with ties to Georgian radicals. So, the Bingham explosion is starting to shape up as a terrorist attack. But then some of Marty's old pals turn up. Lily Sampson is hoping to inherit some of her old boyfriend's loot to feed her drug habit. And Ken Bilecki, who'll smoke just about anything that can be ignited, isn't far behind. Now, the Bingham looks more like a meth cook gone bad. But before Theresa can decide whether to call Homeland Security or the Drug Enforcement Agency, another explosion at Bruce Lambert's research lab suggests that there may be a third, even more complex explanation. Once again, Black constructs a puzzle that weaves old crimes with new, always leaving room for one more twist.

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November 1, 2013
Cleveland forensic scientist Theresa MacLean is just finishing a suicide investigation at a downtown apartment building when it blows up. Escaping with severe cuts and bruises, Theresa is back at work the next day, this time to check out an apparent drug overdose. Accompanying her is cop Marty Davis. While Theresa is in the house examining the overdose victim, Davis waits outside, but when Theresa comes out, Davis is lying in the driveway, shot in the head. Her investigation into both cases leads to a decades-old drug ring, a Cleveland millionaire businessman with an impressive chemical lab, a homeless man who knows more than he's telling, and a budding romance with a man whose teacher wife ran off with her 13-year-old pupil. Theresa eventually links the disparate clues, and it's just a matter of figuring out who's the puppet master behind the byzantine case. Quick pacing, a keep-'em-guessing plot, plenty of dark humor, and a spunky, outspoken, whip-smart heroine make this a must-read for fans of Cornwall and Grafton.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)