Ten books, 10 years, 10th ANNIVERSARY. The title of the latest
installment in the Women's Murder Club series by James
Patterson and Maxine Paetro contains a game-changing event (or
two), a couple of surprises, and three extremely intriguing
mysteries. The result is a book that is (un)equal parts police
procedural, courtroom thriller and investigative journalism.

One of the big events is revealed on the book flap, so I'm safe
to tell you here: San Francisco police detective Lindsay Boxer gets
married to Joe Molinari. But the rice barely has been swept off the
sidewalk before Boxer is drawn into a puzzling and perplexing case.
A 15-year-old girl is found stumbling and bleeding, all but naked,
in the southwest corner of San Francisco. A medical examination
determines that she has recently given birth, yet her baby is
nowhere to be found. Her story is somewhat confused as well, making
it difficult for Boxer and partner Rich Conklin to determine what
has happened to the girl and her baby, who may or may not still be
alive. Boxer's dogged investigation uncovers little truth and an
abundance of lies, not only at the girl's exclusive school but also
from the victim herself.

Meanwhile, Assistant District Attorney Yuki Castellano is
immersed in a high-profile murder case. Fresh off her first
courtroom win, she is trying a well-known San Francisco
cardiologist who is accused of killing her husband, a notorious
rake reputed to conjugate with anyone with a pulse and a tremble.
The case at first seems to be a slam dunk for Castellano, until a
surprise witness changes everything. Matters aren't helped when
Boxer interjects herself into the case, attempting to balance her
competing concerns of assisting her good friend Castellano and
seeing that justice is done, two objectives that in this
circumstance may be mutually exclusive. Making matters even more
interesting is the fact that Castellano is dating Boxer's boss, who
may have a secret or two of his own.

Cindy Thomas, the intrepid crime reporter for the San
Francisco Chronicle, is in for a surprise of her own from her
beau Conklin, even as she investigates a series of incidents
involving abductions and assaults of women on the streets of San
Francisco. Thomas has a slim clue that she follows to its source,
at least until she finds herself to be very much a part of her own
story. Conklin and Boxer race to her rescue, but will they be too
late?

The Women's Murder Club series never disappoints from
year to year, volume to volume, but Patterson and Paetro have
kicked it up a notch or two with 10th ANNIVERSARY to commemorate
the completion of the series' first --- but certainly not last ---
decade. And if three different storylines are not enough for you
--- as well as an additional surprise --- there is a 10-year
commemoration that occurs within the book as well. I don't think
you could reasonably ask for much more, but it's there,
nonetheless: excerpts from Patterson's next two collaborative
efforts. You can't beat it.