Crime readers challenge

[searcher52]

This will test you I'm sure but I'm hoping some one can help.

This is a book crime/thriller written by a US female author. As far as I remember it's set in Chicago. The principal character is a woman who if I remember is an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney. She is single but she is having/hoping to have a relationship with a guy in her department or associated with her department who is married to a doctor?

In the novel she tries to solve a crime which involves the death of a colleague and to do so she needs to enlist the help of a black girl who is caught up in the crime.

Does this ring any bells? I enjoyed the book and would like to read more of this author's work.

[becke_davis]

Man, you'd think I could come up with a title with all these details, but I'm drawing a blank. So many female authors have written books set in Chicago, I'll need to narrow it down. Was it more of a romance or more of a mystery?

[searcher52]

Let's clear up the location first - not 100% sure it is Chicago.

Book opens at a crime scene. The protagonist, who is in the prosecution service has gone along with a police colleague to interview a witness(?). When they arrive they discover two men at the house and as they arrive the two men make good their escape but in the melee the police colleague is gunned down. It transpires that the witness they came to interview has been murdered in an upstairs bedroom.

Police start to investigate the murders but the hero is not convinced they are on top of the case. she senses some hint of corruption and decides to take matters into her own hands. She tracks down a black woman whose mother is involved to an extent in the main plot. The mother is murdered by the drugs dealers(?).

The hero and the black woman spend their time solving the whole crime(s). The hero comes from the "good" side of town and the black woman from the "bad" so she has to teach the hero how to survive and gain street cred as they work undercover.

The whole story line relating to her relatinship with the married man is a subplot. In the end it turns out his wife - the doctor - has actually been cheating on him.

Any better?

I've practicaly written the book!

[searcher52]

My goodness what a strange thing the mind is!

Within minutes of posting that, an author's name came into my mind!

Lisa Scottoline - the book is Devil's Corner.

Thanks for your help anyway - and if anyone hasn't read it, go get it - it's a great read. Hope I haven't divulged too much of the plot.

[becke_davis · Accepted solution]

I'm so glad you remembered it, because I was drawing a total blank.