BROKEN PLACES

Nothing can deflect a private investigator from finding the killer of her surrogate father.

Cass Raines was a cop until she and her partner, Detective Ben Mickerson, were almost killed in an incident they had under control until James Farraday, a glory-seeking cop with a lot of clout in the Chicago PD, rushed in and precipitated a gunfight. Raised by her grandparents after her mother died and her father took off, Cass was one of the few African-American women on the force, and she has no tolerance for bullshit. After leaving the force, she hung out her shingle as a private eye. Still wracked with guilt over her inability to prevent Farraday from killing a kid who was about to surrender, she happily works small cases for small money. When Father Raymond Heaton, whom Cass calls Pop, and a gangbanger are found shot dead in St. Brendan’s Church and Farraday catches the case, Cass is determined to find the truth instead of accepting Farraday’s pat answer that Pop killed the kid in a struggle and then killed himself out of guilt. Pop, an activist priest who supported righteous people and causes, had made quite a few enemies but was always giving second chances to even the worst of them. Although his housekeeper, Thea Bey, is no gossip, she gives Cass the names of several people she knows have recently tangled with Pop. Ben Mickerson, who’s also on the case, warns Cass to leave it to the police and then passes her information that may help her. Her search takes her deep into gang territory and off on a wild chase after a mentally disturbed homeless man she believes witnessed the murders. She knows she’s getting close when she becomes a target of the killer, but will she survive to solve the mystery?

Clark’s kickoff to an exciting new character-driven series explores the dynamics between a black investigator and a white world in a story ripped from the headlines.