Chicago detective Annalisa Vega shattered her life, personally and professionally, when she turned in her ex-cop father for his role in a murder. Her family can’t forgive her. Her fellow officers no longer trust her. So when detective Leo Hammond turns up dead in a bizarre murder, Annalisa thinks she has nothing to lose by investigating whatever secrets he hid behind the thin blue line.
Annalisa quickly zeroes in on someone who had good reason to want Hammond dead: a wealthy, fast-talking car salesman who’d gotten away with murder once and wasn’t about to let Hammond take a second shot. Moe Bocks remains the number one suspect in his girlfriend’s brutal unsolved death, and now he’s got a new woman in his sights—Annalisa’s best friend.
Annalisa is desperate to protect her friend and force Bocks to pay, either for Hammond’s death or his earlier crime. But when no one else believes the connection, she takes increasingly risky chances to reveal the truth. Because both Hammond and Bocks had secrets to die for, and if she doesn’t untangle them soon, Annalisa will be next.
LONG GONE
Joanna Schaffhausen
This is the second installment in the Annalisa Vega series by Joanna Schaffhausen. It is a police procedural featuring an ex-married couple and detective partners, Annalisa and Nick.
Annalisa is still reeling from the after effects of her last case and the ramifications of seeing justice through. She is in a tough spot with her family and the situation is not better at work. She and Nick find themselves on the case of a cop shooting which is the last kind of case Annalisa needs right now. But perhaps she is exactly the right person because unlike anyone else we know what’s on the line for her.
This book is about complicated family dynamics, doing the right thing, right now-always and it’s also a lot about shield politics, which I wasn’t expecting so much of. There is a nice pace to the writing and it’s basically a pitch-perfect procedural.
I love the tension and the back-and-forth between Annalisa and Nick. But if you’re not here for that there’s also a solid mystery and a case to solve.
It reminds me a lot of Tess Gerritsen’s THE SURGEON series, which I’ve mentioned before. Both in the setting and in the nature of the characters. I do hope to see more from Vega and Schaffhausen.
This one is available now.
Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books for the advance copy!
LONG GONE…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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