A Simple Act of Violence

When Catherine Sheridan is found brutally murdered, D.C. Det. Robert Miller is assigned to the case along with his partner, Det. Albert Roth. Miller is a complex and lonely man who has just returned to work following an IAD investigation into an earlier case. Piecing together information from other precincts, it appears that there is a serial killer on the loose in Washington and Sheridan was the fourth woman killed. Each of the victims was found with a ribbon tied around her neck and a paper luggage tag. Miller's team quickly runs into a massive road block when none of the victims can be identified. It's as if they never existed. Determined to find some answers in their search for the killer, Miller and Roth start at the beginning and review all four murders. Even as the police are beginning to tie the murders to the death of a police informant during a drug sting years earlier, there are more murders. Miller's team is quickly ensnared in an elusive game of cat and mouse with a man named John Robey, who they suspect is the man they're after. Concurrent with the police investigation, there is an interior monologue by CIA operative John Robey that harkens back to the Reagan era and the war on drugs that adds chilling political overtones to A SIMPLE ACT OF VIOLENCE. Ellory has written a complex and intriguing mystery that will keep you guessing right up until the end. Lynn Kimmerle

In 2006 DC Police Detectives Robert Miller and Albert Roth arrive at the house of murder victim Catherine Sheridan; she was brutally battered and strangled by the Ribbon Killer who left behind his signature ribbon attached to a luggage tag. As with the previous three such victims of this predator in this affluent neighborhood, the psychopath insured the body would remain warm for the police. Just back from administrative leave after an investigation into his killing a perpetrator, Miller and the department are confused as each of the deceased also share in common no past as if they showed up in DC as adults. Meanwhile a former CIA agent using the name John Robey reflects back to the Reagan Era as he knows what ties the homicides together while Miller and Roth struggle to find the deadly dot connector before a fifth body appears. Except for those who insist President Reagan is the greatest ever occupant of the White House (which excludes GW), readers will relish this deep look at murder and a dark moment in American history. The story line is fast-paced with Miller providing a Noir feel to the investigation while his partner somewhat mellows his outlook. Robey provides the 1980s history that tie the dead females with no history together; as appreciative fans will ironically know before the cops the timely mantra "that the bigger the lie the more easily it will be believed." Harriet Klausner