Cop Town

Publishers Weekly 04/14/2014 Violent crime, police politics, and race relations all figure in this scintillating standalone set in 1970s Atlanta, from bestseller Slaughter (Martin Misunderstood). Maggie Lawson comes from a disjointed, emotionally disconnected family of law enforcement officers, and her time spent as an Atlanta PD cop has hardened her to many of the job’s horrors. But when her brother, Jimmy, who’s also a police officer, loses his partner to a notorious and elusive cop killer—only surviving the ordeal himself because the assassin’s handgun jammed—Maggie decides she can’t write this murder off as yet another day on the job. Determined to track down “the Shooter,” she finds an unlikely partner in Kate Murphy, a stunningly beautiful widow and new recruit reassigned to Maggie’s patrol. While the two women search for answers, Kate becomes the next potential victim in the demented Shooter’s crosshairs. Slaughter does her usual fine job of exploring intriguingly troubled characters, though readers should be prepared for plenty of gore. Agent: Victoria Sanders, Victoria Sanders & Associates. (June)