A Secret Woman — Rachel Pollack

What happens to a detective with more secrets than the killers he investigates?

Lieutenant Simon Goldtree is the boy wonder of the Essex City Police Department in upstate New York. The man who gets all the really tough homicide cases, Simon can stand in the center if a case and simply feel the lies. The media love him and women seem fascinated by him. The other detectives may consider Simon a grandstander, but as Simon tells his friend Andrea, all he really cares about is the truth. But what about his own truth, his own lies? What about the secret desires he tells no one but Andrea?

When insurance executive Martin Stanstead turns up dead in his own car, Simon's partner, Sergeant Frank Garrowey, throws himself into the hard work of the investigation. From the beginning, however, Simon knows that this case is different. He knows this is the one that could destroy him.

Slowly the two detectives close in on Stanstead's killer. They discover mob ties only to see a cover-up take shape right in front of them. Knowing that Frank has too much to lose, Simon prepares to take on Essex City's gang boss, his own police department, and anyone else, to expose the lies-- until his own secrets explode in the local media.

Publicly humiliated and forced to resign from the force, Simon decides at last to follow his heart and become the person he always wanted to be. But what about the Stanstead case? If a desire for truth pulls the ex-cop back to Essex City, what will happen to his new life-- assuming the gang boss lets the former investigator live at all?