Necessary Ends (#6)

Tai Randolph is no stranger to solving mysteries. With a taste for danger and a talent for amateur sleuthing, she has helped put an assortment of murderers behind bars, much to the displeasure of her lover, Trey Seaver. A former SWAT officer with the Atlanta police department, Trey believes in letting the authorities handle complex matters of crime and punishment.

But then the Talbot case flares back to life.

It was the crime that rocked Atlanta—actress Jessica Talbot shot dead in her Buckhead mansion and her husband, movie producer Nick Talbot, accused of the murder. It seemed an open and shut case…until a dirty cop’s secret forced prosecutors to set Talbot free. Now, four years later, someone wants him dead, and the evidence points to the man most convinced of Talbot’s guilt—Trey.

Talbot offers an irresistible deal—he’ll keep Trey’s name off the suspect list if Trey agrees to a one-on-one interview. It’s a chance for Trey to determine once and for all if Talbot really is a killer, but it could also expose secrets in Trey’s own past, confidential information he has sworn to protect. Caught between his drive for justice and his need for security, Trey does the unexpected—he asks Tai to help him investigate.

It’s a situation fraught with drama and potential disaster, the kind of case Tai relishes. With Trey by her side—and in a killer’s crosshairs—she vows to use every trick in her slightly sketchy playbook to stop a vigilante murderer from claiming a fresh victim.

“The sixth title . . . is the dramatic culmination of this series’ primary story arc with the two damaged protagonists, after struggling with family and personal demons, finding answers and moving on with their lives. While the mystery is filled with complex characters, it’s the uncertainty, pain, and awkwardness of the two leads that drives this intense story.”
— Lesa Holstine for Library Journal