The Blue Hour (Merci Rayborn Series #1) » (Reprint)

Crime fans looking for something beyond the average potboiler love Parker for his intelligent, layered crime novels. He has created a well developed and popular heroine in homicide detective Merci Rayborn, and his Silent Joe earned recognition as the best mystery novel of 2002.

Tim Hess is a semiretired veteran cop staring at a death sentence-his own. Detective Merci Rayborn, young enough to be his daughter, is brash, impatient, and not someone from whom Hess wants to be taking orders. He certainly isn’t planning on falling in love with her…
Together they must track down a psychopathic killer who’s been abducting beautiful young women from the malls of Orange County. Dubbed the “Purse Snatcher” for the chilling way he brags about his shockingly distinctive crimes, he is one of T. Jefferson Parker’s most original creations.

“Ingenious, intricate, complicated yet credible, a real page-turner. There are leaks, leads, false leads, and an express train of an ending. Within the crackling tale, a quieter current carries an unforeseen and ill-starred love affair. A man much praised doesn’t need more encomiums; T. Jefferson Parker deserves all he gets.”
-Los Angeles Times.

“One of Parker’s best-and that’s a major statement considering his track record.”
-Chicago Tribune

NY Times Book Review

...[A]nother insanely imaginative thriller from T. Jefferson Parker....the wondrously weird characters [take] this lurid plot to its outer limits.