From Library Journal
Police Lt. Gianna Maglione, who heads the Hate Crimes Unit in Washington, D.C., insists that a series of hooker murders belongs to her department: someone killed these women just for being women. Her lover, on the other hand, investigates the cases because she wants a good story for her newspaper. Since the two women have collided before in the course of work (Keeping Secrets, Naiad Pr., 1994), the conflicts arising from their parallel pursuits come as no surprise. Occasional grandstanding and amateurish passages weaken the diverse cast, compassionate protagonist, and realistic surrounds. Wait for demand.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
The screech of tires, a woman's screams and tears, gunshots, the moans of the dying--these are some of the night songs in the fast-paced, tightly written second mystery starring Lt. Gianna Maglione, head of the hate crimes unit of the Washington, D.C., police. Yet, some of the book's night songs are melodies of love as Maglione and her lover, reporter Mimi Patterson, cry together with passion over a background of sirens and neighbors' stereos. The book's fictional insider's look at the nation's capital uses the ritualistic slayings of street prostitutes as a vehicle for exploring the shifting priorities of police work, in which, all too often, victims are seen as worthless throwaways. In the ensuing grimly compelling tale of power and privilege, street people, drugs, and despair, Patterson's professional path often leads to head-on clashes with her police lieutenant lover. Whitney Scott
