When Detective Liz Boyle receives an urgent phone call from her lieutenant on her day off, she knows the news won’t be good. She and her partner, Tom Goran, arrive at the new crime scene, which is in a cemetery located on the Cleveland/Cleveland Heights border, and discover that someone has brutally beaten a locally famous defense attorney to death.As the investigation takes them deeper into the … deeper into the city’s—and the police department’s—seedy underbelly, the case begins to throw the blue wall of silence into question. Liz has a strong desire to do the right thing, but she also must pick her way around the department bureaucracy to avoid being thought a rat, an accusation that could end her career.
Liz’s dance through the gritty city threatens to finish her and her crew, including Tom and Lieutenant Fishner. Once again, Detective Liz Boyle is plunged into a case that will test her personal and professional allegiances.
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Author Kate Birdsall has written a powerful, totally captivating police procedural- crime mystery with her newest book, “The Heights.” This novel is everything a police procedural should be—and more as it digs into cop culture in particularly intense, revealing ways. The mystery elements are riveting and well done with an authentic feel that makes the story read with a true crime vibe. But the real scene stealer is the protagonist, Liz Boyle, a complex, outwardly tough detective. Liz is sometimes brash, often risk-taking, and always focused and driven in her police work as a dedicated special homicide detective.
Yet Liz has issues in her private life with an ex-lover, who is another female in law enforcement, and with her family. She has a head full of demons, most of which she has earned the right to in her difficult life. She has an edgy relationship with her female lieutenant and a dismal relationship with her police captain, but works well with her loyal partner, family man Tom Goran.
When Liz and Tom are called out to help investigate a particularly brutal crime—the beating death of a woman defense attorney—Liz directs her considerable energy on catching the killer. There’s a complex history she must slowly unravel, even when it brings her into heightened conflicts with her lieutenant and captain. Along the way, she crosses paths with some sadistic men who would destroy her just because she is a woman and a cop.
The plot is gripping, the characters are compelling, but that’s not all. The writing in this novel is beautiful. Here is but one example:
“The sun sets behind me, and I contemplate the mark that violence leaves, the palpable force of it, the way it penetrates a place, hours, days, years after it happens. Some cops swear they can smell the tang of it for decades, that they can walk into a house and know that someone died a violent death there.”
A truly fine, captivating novel, filled with suspense, and characters that will stay in your head.
Too much not particularly interesting information about the main character, two little action. Storyline drags badly until the last few pages.
As the cliche goes: this book could’ve jumped off this morning’s newspaper with the relentless depiction of race relations between the Cleveland police and a poorly served Black community. The misogyny in the police department is vicious and omnipresent–dating from twenty years earlier. Liz Boyle, the lead detective, is as tough as any male in the department and manages to stand up against the homophobia. The conclusion is as tough as noir. Highly recommended if you like tough, smart-mouthed female cops who never give in.
I enjoyed this book overall, but oftentimes disliked the main character. A good read with a complex storyline.
I usually don’t enjoy reading about female protagonists, but this was so well written that it was not a factor. Also, since I am originally from Cleveland Ohio, I found it interesting to read about my former city.
Terrible- no flow. Writing not exciting.
I have this book 3 stars. I think it was probably good but it was a story from the past written in the present. I wondered if the author missed a tense in jr. high grammar. After I had read almost half I have up, it was too disconcerting. The narrator was just a bit too cool, the hard outside covering a sensitive gay interior. Enough of that, give me characters that are not contrived.
Decent, but not exceptional.
Book source~ Review copy. My review is voluntary and honest.
Detectives Liz Boyle and Tom Goran have quite a gruesome case to solve. Someone has brutally beaten a local defense attorney to death in a cemetery. But this is no ordinary homicide. The more Liz and Tom dig into the victim’s murder the more nastiness they uncover about police officers in their city of Cleveland. And it’s not good. Not good at all. The Blue Wall of Silence is stopping Liz from getting to the truth, but is it a truth she really wants to deal with?
Wow. This story was written and pubbed right before 2020 imploded, but the subject matter is even more relevant today. Police brutality and systemic racism in the judicial system are hard subjects to address, but it is imperative that they are. While this is an excellent murder mystery the ongoing social issues of today are the backbone of the book except as possibly seen from the inside of the police department by a female detective. Liz is highly conflicted and it’s up to her to do the right thing and resolve her personal issues in order to grow. And she does grow. In fact, she has grown a lot since the first book and I’m proud of her. Stagnant characters do not a good series make.
The investigation takes many turns and I was left guessing until nearly the very end. Terrific writing, a great plot, and excellent characters make this one of my top reads for 2020. I love Detective Liz Boyle, flaws and all.