Overview

When a boy raps on Detective Burgess's car window summoning him to a burning commercial building now serving as a mosque, Burgess rushes through the intensifying flames to rescue a screaming woman and her baby locked in a closet.The young mother survives, but suffers traumatic muteness. Autopsy shows the infant was gravely ill, suggesting someone was trying to keep mother and child away from hospitals that might have asked questions.Questioning suspicious, uncooperative refugees, members of a motorcycle gang, and shady businessmen, results in threats to Burgess's family, newly grown by two adopted children.Burgess persists, certain that finding justice for the child and mute mother will solve everything, until a witnesses draws him and his team into a building... booby-trapped to explode.AWARDS:Winner of the Maine Literary Award for Crime FictionREVIEWS:"Flora pours on the intensity in this criminal, legal and moral maze." ~Kirkus Reviews"It's the richness of characterization, refreshing dialogue, and startlingly good writing that recommend Flora's novel." ~BooklistTHE JOE BURGESS MYSTERIES, in series orderPlaying GodThe Angel of Knowlton ParkRedemptionAnd Grant You Peace