Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Sullivan's Justice

Nancy Taylor Rosenberg, Sullivan's Justice - Ventura County probation officer Carolyn Sullivan has an uncanny knack for getting prisoners to confess to her whey they won't speak to anyone else. She uses what they say to insure the judge gives them the maximum amount of prison time. Her latest subject is Raphael Moreno who was convicted of second degree murder in the deaths of his mother, sister and a family of five, one of which was a six-month-old baby. She plans to talk to him but her boss conducts the interview instead and winds up hospitalized.

Carolyn gets sidetracked by her brother Neil, who saw the body of Laurel the woman he loves and planned to marry floating in his pool. The police think he killed her by lethal injection but Carolyn knows he couldn't hurt anyone. Another woman in the neighborhood was also killed by the lethal injection containing the same chemicals used to kill Laurel. When tests are done on her brother's car, blood is found that matches that of Raphael Moreno. The police want to find the link between the two men and ask Carolyn to talk Moreno again, a situation that almost leads to costing the probation officer her life.

There are many mystery and thriller writers that this reviewer admires for the work they produce with Nancy Taylor Rosenberg at the top of the must-read list. Her latest tale is superb. There is plenty of action, the storyline is fast-paced and there are enough suspects that readers will have a good time wondering who the killer might be, including considering the sibling. The heroine, who first appeared in SULLIVAN'S LAW, is a valiant warrior in the fight against crime.

Kensington, May 2005, $24.00, 325 pp.

ISBN 0758206194

Harriet Klausner