Dead Connection (Ellie Hatcher Series #1) » (Reprint)

A former deputy district attorney in Portland, Oregon, Alafair Burke now teaches criminal law at Hofstra Law School and lives in New York City. She is the daughter of the acclaimed crime writer James Lee Burke. Her three novels in the Samantha Kincaid series, Judgment Calls, Missing Justice, and Close Case, are available in paperback from St. Martin's Press.

“Utterly riveting.”—Tess Gerritsen

Two young, single women are murdered on the streets of New York City, exactly one year apart. Their only connection: Both had posted profiles on the popular online dating service, FirstDate.com. Enter NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher. She fits the profile of the victims, and is called in for a special assignment to the homicide team.

“Burke is a terrific web spinner...keep[s] readers at her mercy.”

—Entertainment Weekly

FirstDate.com promises its online clientele that they’ll remain anonymous and safe. But Ellie is about to discover that the company is protecting the identity of the killer more than it protected the safety of his victims...

“Tantalizing.” —Library Journal

Soon Ellie is entangled in a web of anonymous identities and false leads as she tries to attract and lure in a suspect. But time is running out to find the killer before he claims his next victim which, in a devastating twist of fate, is looking more and more likely to be Ellie herself....

Publishers Weekly

The critics were not very kind to the print version of Burke's attempt to break out of her successful Samantha Kincaid series, and the audio version shares the same faults of being dull, overcomplicated and overstuffed. Despite the award-winning audio talents of Christopher Lane, there's only so much he can do with the material he's been given. Lane is cool, clean and clear as a fresh pond as he tells listeners the story of Ellie Hatcher, a rookie detective whose father's apparent suicide leads her from New York to Wichita, Kans., where she finds that the suicide had something to do with the serial killer her father was pursuing. Lane gets all the characters' voices just right-male and female, New York computer nerd and Kansas lawman. But in the end he's the only reason for spending time and money on this disappointing audio. Simultaneous release with the Henry Holt hardcover (Reviews, May 7). (July)