Justice in the Shadows

Rating:
Summary: Excerpt
Review: Dr. Catherine Rawlings awoke, naked, her cheek against her lover's shoulder. They'd slept with the window open in the bedroom of her first floor apartment, and a faint breeze ruffled the curtains at the window. It was dark. Five a.m.?

Soon the alarm would go off, and another day would begin. She loved awakening to the still-new pleasure of Rebecca's body, but even so, she was uneasy, haunted by all that remained unfinished. The last few weeks had been so intense, both personally and professionally, that she'd hardly had time to adjust to the emotional maelstrom.

Despite the reservations of her police detective lover, Rebecca Frye, Catherine had agreed to consult with the joint police and federal task force formed to expose a local child pornography ring. In the process of profiling the perpetrators, she'd become friends with some of the investigators and had also become deeply invested in stopping the abuse of helpless young girls. And in the last twenty-four hours, things had gone terribly wrong. Now one woman lay in a coma, the team had been shattered by jurisdictional rivalries, and the criminals were no closer to being apprehended.

Her last conversation with Rebecca just before they'd fallen into bed, each physically exhausted and emotionally numb, drifted back to her.

"What's going to happen now?"

"I'll be back on regular duty in a day or so, and I'll have new cases to worry about." Rebecca rested her cheek against Catherine's hair and closed her eyes. "It happens like this in police work. You work your ass off, and then you can't make the case because of a technicality, or you do make the case, but the perp plea-bargains it down to nothing."

"So you're letting this go?" Catherine asked, surprised.

Faintly, Rebecca shook her head no. "Clark will pull the plug on this task force-he's probably already made the call. But I'll keep doing what I'm trained to do until we make this right-for Jeff, for Michael, for those young kids."

Jeff Cruz had been Rebecca's partner in the Special Crimes Unit of the Philadelphia Police Department, until he and an undercover detective, Jimmy Hogan, had been murdered three months ago. Their killer was still at large, their murders unsolved.

Michael Lassiter had been struck down the night before the child porno sting operation by a hit and run driver in a thwarted attempt to kill J.T. Sloan, her lover and the civilian computer consultant on the task force. She lay in the intensive care unit at University Hospital in critical condition.

Jeff, Michael, those nameless teenagers-victims all.

"I'll keep doing what I'm trained to do until we make this right..."

Make it right. That's what Catherine's lover did. Stood for right, sometimes at peril to herself.

Catherine's right hand rested on Rebecca's chest, her fingers motionless against the ridges of scar tissue above Rebecca's left breast. Some of the scars were only days old. She didn't need to trace the outlines to feel each one intimately. She saw them with her eyes open or closed. She saw them in her dreams.

She shivered and pressed closer.

"Catherine?" Detective Sergeant Rebecca Frye kissed the top of Catherine's head, one hand drifting up and down her arm in a slow caress. She was still a bit stunned to find herself in Catherine's bed-in Catherine's life. They'd been together four months, and for a large chunk of that time, she'd been in the hospital recovering from a near-fatal gunshot wound. Hardly the best way to start a love affair. "Are you cold?"

"No." Catherine turned her head to press her lips to the skin beneath Rebecca's collarbone. "I love you."

Rebecca caught her breath. "I can't get used to hearing that. It's so...damn good." She held Catherine tighter.

"We'll practice," Catherine murmured. "But I don't want you to get too used to it."

Rating:
Summary: Can't Get Enough
Review: I can't get enough of Radclyffe's Justice series. I reach the end of a book and am immediately thristing for more. Luckily, for all us readers, Radclyffe keeps writing about the lives of these amazing women.

In this installment, Dr. Catherine Rawlings and her lover, police Sergeant, Rebecca Frye, work together to continue to try to uncover a pornography ring, one which has already resulted in the near death of private cyber consultant, JT Sloan's lover Michael. Sloan assists Catherine and Rebecca while anxiously siting vigil at the hospital bed of her injured lover. Young rookie cop, Dell, works undercover on the case and finds herself falling for Rebecca's informant, Sandy--who happens to be a prostitute. The exploration of Dell and Sandy's new attraction is a highlight of the book. Radclyffe continues to stretch and never rests on her laurels. The sex scenes are Radclyffe's trademark-- bold, passionate, romantic, edgy and very steamy.

It may just be wishful thinking on my part, but I believe we could see another in this series. I, for one, can't wait.

Rating:
Summary: Fast moving, page turner
Review: This sequel to In Pursuit of Justice picks up right where IPOJ ends with Michael in a coma and the task force pursuing the internet porn ring. But the case is not easily solved and there are unexpected twists along the way that kept me turning the pages, including a budding, passionate romance between a young rookie cop and a young prostitute.

As usual with Radclyffe's stories, her character development is real and believable.She intertwines passionate romance throughout the plot, never forgeting that at heart she is a romance writer.

I thought that this sequel would wrap up the series, but in the end Radclyffe had me wanting more. When the last page turned, I was anxious for the next book in the series, hoping I do not have to wait long.