"Dead Line"

"Dead Line" is the 4th work of fiction from Stella Rimington, the former head of Britain's MI5.  This series features MI5 officer, Liz Carlyle, who is called on again to investigate- this time the possible sabotage of a Middle East peace conference being held at Gleneagles resort in Scotland.

In the meantime her boss, Charles Weatherby, is leaving her to fend more and more on her own and to rely on other colleagues while he is spending time working from home while his wife is dying.  This means Liz is forced to work with the likes of Geoffrey Fane as well as interface with U.S. and Mossad intelligence.

What appears to be the work of one country trying to sabotage a peace conference turns into something entirely different but will Liz discover what?  As she herself is run down by a car that puts her in the hospital for a short time and leads ending up as corpses, she is running out of time to find out who is behind the sabotage and why and can she stop it in time?  pazt

"4th of July"

James Patterson's "4th of July' is another one of the Women's Murder Club series which Patterson co-wrote this time with Maxine Paetro.  Lt. Lindsay Boxer was off duty until she got a call from her former partner, Jacobi.  They've got a lead on a vehicle they've been watching for that is connected to some murders - Does she want to ride along?  She's at dinner with friends and has had a couple of drinks but she informs him of this when she joins him.

They end up in a car chase with the vehicle occupants.  When the car overturns and they see the occupants are just a teenage girl and boy, they holster their guns and rush to get them out of the luxury car before it explodes.  Unfortunately, the teens are armed and open fire hitting both Lindsay and Jacobi but Lindsay is able to return fire and kills the girl and leaves the boy paralyzed for life.  Initially the boy makes a statement that they did commit the murders but later retracts it when his parents (His father is a prominent doctor.) file a lawsuit against Lindsay for the wrongful death of their daughter and paralyzing their son.

Lindsay is devastated but decides to get out of the city since she's been currently relieved of duty.  While awaiting her trial date, she goes to stay at her sister's while her sister and nieces are out of town.  When she arrives, she learns there have been a series of murders in town that match the first cold case from her early days as a cop -- a case that has haunted her.  Unofficially she begins to work on these murders as more occur and finally the local police allow her to join their investigation.

So...she's awaiting trial and in the midst of a police investigation which she hopes will solve her old cold case and, as is not uncommon, her life is threatened.  Another great mystery -- on to the next in the series.  pazt