MARATHON

A cop-turned-investigator won’t let the suicide of her client pass without a fight.

Even though investigator Lynn Bryant works mainly in the world of corporate fraud, her past with the Houston PD is always with her, making her a little tough on the suits she’s dealing with now. This time, however, her brand of street justice gets Lynn in trouble with her longtime client Fidelity Nationwide, who fears that her behavior may land them in a lawsuit. After getting canned, Lynn, desperate for dollars, takes on a case for a client who’s at best a crazy drunk. Beautiful but deeply troubled Karen Shaw, who describes herself as a psychic with visions of the future, hires Lynn to investigate a disturbing prophecy of murder she can’t get out of her head. When Karen winds up as the victim of what the cops call a suicide, Lynn feels a duty to find out the truth behind her client’s frightening visions. She’s equally protected by and saddled with Karen’s young love interest, a temperamental artist named Johnny who can’t bear to leave the case unsolved. Though her off-again lover Lt. Frank Wilson warns against it, Lynn travels to the rural town of Marathon to chase down the only lead in the case, a young girl who received an unsolicited reading from Karen in the not-so-distant past. Where Lynn goes, trouble follows, in spite of her noble if misguided goal of finding a killer in a case the police believe is already closed.

Davis (Dreamtown, 2011, etc.) paints her leads as complex and sympathetic despite their rough edges, though the story ends before its final repercussions are felt.