"Miami it's Murder"

Edna Buchanan's second book in the Britt Montero series is "Miami it's Murder" and it doesn't disappoint.
Britt's detective friend, Dan Flood, has retired from the police force but not willingly - He has health issues he's dealing with.  With the death of Dan's daughter then his wife and Britt not having a father they have bonded like a father/daughter and regularly get together over lunch to talk about the old days and current cases.  Dan has some regrets about some cases he never could solve including one where he suspects a teenage boy killed an 8 year old girl.  He'd sure like to solve that one since the "boy" is now set to be elected as the next governor of Florida.  Britt decides it's worth looking into but isn't getting a lot of cooperation.

In the meantime, there is a rapist hiding out in public women's restrooms and attacking women.  Britt bullies the police into letting her write about it and the rapist sends her messages letting her know he's not happy about her coverage and everyone around her, including Dan and her other police friends, believe she's making herself a target.

At the scene where a car is being pulled out of the water with a body inside, Britt meets a handsome tour boat captain who takes an interest in her and makes her former boyfriend, Lt. Kendall McDonald jealous.  McDonald isn't ready to get involved with Britt again, though, and possibly interfere with the positive direction his career appears to be taking.  Will Britt be able to move on and find a new relationship?

As if that weren't enough happening at the moment, there are three suspicious deaths -- the first two appear to be accidents but the last one is definitely murder.  The interesting connection is that all three victims were previously implicated in three different murders but either got off on technicalities or there wasn't enough evidence to connect.  Their methods of dying match the methods their supposed victims died.  When Britt starts reviewing the cases, she discovers evidence at the last scene that leads her to one of the biggest stories of her career and a surprise ending.

I can see why Edna Buchanan was a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter because she's a master at weaving mystery novels, too.  pazt