Cassandra in Red — Michael Collins

This is the last book in the award-winning Dan Fortune mystery series. In it, the private detective surprises himself and comes to some conclusions about his life - his relationship with model Kay Michaels has passed through the novelty stage, and they've settled down together into a committed relationship. Love does strange things to middle-aged men, he muses. It can actually make you happy. At the same time, his detective business is thriving. Based on an actual case that riveted Southern California, Cassandra in Red calls upon all of Fortune's skills to find the real killers of Cassandra Reilly, a homeless woman who is brutally stabbed to death in a lovely Santa Barbara park at midnight in 1992. There are no witnesses, no evidence, and no suspects - but most of her belongings were taken. She was homeless, and the police believe she was killed in a robbery by some other homeless person. Fortune doesn't buy it. As he probes Cassandra's past and the widely varied strata of Southern California life, more and more people appear as suspects. Honored with the Private Eye Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award, grandmaster Lynds is at his best in Cassandra in Red, delivering the fast-paced suspense and memorable characters that have inspired the praise of critics around the world. What sets Lynds's work apart is his ability to humanize both the victims and the criminals - to dramatize the labyrinth of influences and childhood incidents that cement personalities, produce complex motives, cause behaviors, ennoble or destroy. Collins stretches the boundaries of the genre with Cassandra in Red - the action, the suspense, the characters - producing an unforgettable tale of those whose so-called goodness creates evil.