The Front

When Patricia Cornwell introduced the quicksilver, cut-to-the-bone style and extraordinary cast of characters of At Risk, the result was electrifying: aAt Risk is Cornwellas finest novel. It works in every way possiblea fascinating characters, solid plot, great pacing and expertly crafted prosea (St. Louis Post-Dispatch); aAbsolutely the best. Hereas hoping weall see more of Win, Monique, Nana and Sykes in the coming years. They are the best characters to emerge from Cornwellas creative pen since . . . well, Kay Scarpettaa (The Denver Post).

At Risk featured Massachusetts state investigator Win Garano, a shrewd man of mixed-race background and a notinconsiderable chip on his shoulder; District Attorney Monique Lamont, a hard-charging woman with powerful ambitions and a troubling willingness to cut corners; and Garanoas grandmother, who has certain unpredictable talents that you ignore at your peril.

And in The Front, peril is what comes to them all. D.A. Lamont has a special job for Garano. As part of a new public relations campaign about the dangers of declining neighborhoods, sheas sending him to Watertown to acome up with a drama, a and she thinks she knows just the case that will serve. Garano is very skeptical, because he knows that Watertown is also the home base for a loose association of municipal police departments called the FRONT, set up in order that they donat have to be so dependent on the stateamuch to Lamontas anger. He senses a much deeper agenda hereabut he has no idea just how deep it goes. In the days that follow, heall find that Lamontas task, andthe places it leads him, will resemble a house of mirrorsaeverywhere he turns, heas not quite sure if what heas seeing is true.

aFalsehoods rule, a warns his grandmother. And they can also kill.

This is the master writing at the absolute top of her game. You will never guess what lies behind The Front,