Silent City by Carrie Smith
A Claire Codella Mystery
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Genre: Action/Adventure, Contemporary, Suspense/Mystery
Length: Full Length (326 pgs)
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by AloeNYPD Detective Claire Codella has just won a tough battle with cancer. Now she has to regain her rightful place on the force. she hasn’t even been back a day when Hector Sanchez, a maverick public school principal, is found murdered. The school is on high alert. The media is howling for answers. And Codella catches the high-profile case at the worst possible time.
As she races to track down the killer, she uncovers dirty politics, questionable contracts, and dark secrets. Each discovery she makes brings her closer to the truth, but the truth may cost Codella her life.
Claire is just returning to work after a long battle with cancer. The cancer almost won. She’s looking forward to coming back to her desk and settling back into the routine of the job. But she gets a phone call instead. She’s thrown right into the middle of a new murder case.
Ms. Smith does a very good job of character building. Claire was a very competent cop who solved a very big case right before the cancer hit. Her boss doesn’t like her because it got her promoted and he was made to look like a fool. He’s got in for her.
He sends her to help a new officer in homicide. The officer is gay and it doesn’t take long for the other boys to find out. They call him the Rainbow Dick. He’s a good cop, will do as he’s told, and he’s on Claire’s side. She might be the token female but he’s also the token gay cop.
The more they interview people, the less they know. This is a complicated plot with lots of players. The author weaves the story, picks up another thread and weaves in and I ended up with no idea who the killer was. At the end I was beginning to suspect one of them but the other one flabbergasted me. What some people will do for money amazes me.
The story flows well, the mix of people is amazing, and greed and lust walk among them. Ms. Smith makes the story believable even if it’s unpredictable. You’ll meet a lot of unethical people in this book. The sad truth is there are a lot of them in the world nowadays. At least the author gives them their comeuppance in this story. If only you could do that in real life.