The Bone Orchard — Joseph Trigoboff

Set in contemporary New York City, this steamy, dark, whodunit was the first in the series of Detective Yablonsky mysteries. When two brutal murders are made to appear to be sex-drug-related crimes, Yablonsky doesn't buy it. The victims were male strippers who turn out to be connected in strange ways to many rich and influential men and women in the city, most notably high-level diplomats from Latin America. Yablonsky's precinct covers the U.N., and he's had more than enough experience to know that diplomatic immunity prevents the prosecution of embassy residents for crimes ranging all the way from parking violations to murders.

Yablonsky is savvy, lonely, with a taste for gourmet meals. He works the murkier streets of New York with a genius belied by his easygoing manner. In THE BONE ORCHARD, he faces the wretched truth that there are some vile criminals who are untouchable, but though he can't get them behind bars, he can hurt them, all the same. The price of such justice is high: terrible things happen to the people he cares about most. Undeterred, Yablonsky continues to unveil nasty secrets until the case finally busts wide open.