"For as long as Lucia Gomez has been the police chief in the city of Highland Isle, near Kindle County, she has known that any woman in law enforcement must walk a precarious line between authority and camaraderie to gain respect. She has maintained a spotless reputation-until now. Three male police officers have accused her of soliciting sex in exchange for promotions to higher ranks. With few people left who she can trust, Chief Gomez turns to an old friend, Rik Dudek, to act as her attorney in the federal grand jury investigation, insisting to Rik that the accusations against her are part of an ugly smear campaign designed to destroy her career and empower her enemies-both outside the police force and within. Clarice "Pinky" Granum spent most of her youth experimenting with an impressive array of drugs and failing out of various professions, including the police academy. Pinky knows that in the eyes of most people, she's nothing but a screwup-but she doesn't trust most people's opinions anyway. Moreover, she finally has a respectable-enough job as a licensed P.I. working for Rik on his roster of mostly minor cases, like workman's comp, DUIs and bar fights. Rik's shabby office and even shabbier cases are a far cry from the kinds of high-profile criminal matters Pinky became familiar with in the law office of her grandfather, Sandy Stern. But Rik and Pinky feel that Chief Gomez's case, which has attracted national attention, is their chance to break into the legal big leagues. Guided by her gut instinct and razor-sharp investigative skills, Pinky dives headfirst into a twisted scandal that will draw her into the deepest recesses of the city's criminal networks, as well as the human mind. But she will need every scrap of tenacity and courage to unravel the dark secrets those closest to her are determined to keep hidden"--

"After Rusty Sabich's heated acquittal in the trial for his life, he's restlessly tried to accept his retirement and get his name out of the spotlight. Now, years later, he's found himself living a quiet life in the town of Mirror with a house on the idyllic lake and a new love, Bea. But the peace that's taken him so long to find comes crashing down when Bea's adoptive son, Aaron, who's under Rusty and Bea's supervision while on probation for a possession conviction, goes missing. The court has ordered that Aaron stay in contact with Rusty and Bea, and if he doesn't return soon, he might get sent back to jail. The trouble doesn't end when Aaron eventually turns up. It turns out that he'd been camping with Mae, his childhood sweetheart who has been an endless source of trouble for Aaron. Except Mae didn't return with Aaron. Mae's prosecuting attorney father, Hardy, brings in all of his resources from local police to the FBI to find his daughter. And when Mae is discovered dead, Hardy immediately points the finger at Aaron and the state jumps to trial. Rusty finds himself coming out of retirement to defend his step-son-to-be from a murder charge where the evidence doesn't seem to add up. But regardless of where the truth is pointing, it seems that the odds are stacked against Aaron. It's going to take all of Rusty's knowledge as a lawyer and judge to show the jury that Aaron isn't a murderer and that if they have any reasonable doubt, they must cast "Not guilty." Aaron's life is on the line and so is the one that Rusty has worked so hard for and all that stands between freedom for both of them is the rage-fueled prejudice against Aaron"--