Croaker

The murder of Alex Waverly, a highly decorated detective assigned to the LAPD's clandestine Anti-Terrorist Division, appears to be an open-and-shut case of domestic violence turned deadly.

Circumstances are not exactly what they seem, however, as Fey Croaker discovers when the chief of police removes responsibility for the investigation from the department's Robbery-Homicide Division and assigns it to her with instructions to wrap it up "quick and tidy. No muss, no fuss."

Dropped into the middle of a power struggle between the chief of police and Vaughn Harrison, the department's deputy chief in charge of overseeing specialized investigation units -- including Robbery-Homicide Division and Alex Waverly's Anti-Terrorist Division -- Fey is torn between her loyalty to the Old Guard and following the razor's edge of integrity in a world filled with lies and deceptions.

Struggling to overcome her personal demons, especially the death of her lover, Fey and her appealing crew, the dynamic Arch Hammersmith and Rhonda Lawless (a.k.a. Hammer and Nails), Brindle Jones, Abraham Cohen (a.k.a. Alphabet), and Fey's second-in-command Monk Lawson, courageously search for the truth, no matter what the cost. Racing to stay ahead of the rising body count, they quickly become moving targets in their struggle to stop a south-of-the-border terrorist from striking at the very heart of Los Angeles.

Riveting in itsplausibility, "Tequila Mockingbird" confirms Paul Bishop's place among the best of the police thriller writers and shows Fey Croaker and her team at the top of their form.