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THE PRICE OF INNOCENCE by Lisa Black

THE PRICE OF INNOCENCE

by Lisa Black

Pub Date: Nov. 1st, 2013
ISBN: 978-0-7278-8291-2
Publisher: Severn House

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.