The Lost Witness by Robert Ellis

Detective Lena Gamble is on the outs with LAPD brass following her last big case (detailed in Ellis' last book City of Fire). After eight months of working only on "Officer Involved Shooting" cases, which to Lena are time consuming and boring, she gets a call to investigate a murder in Hollywood. The death of the young woman is particularly brutal and Lena is to report her progress on the case to LAPD Chief Logan and his subordinate, Lt. Klinger. This directive and their abrasive manner towards her leads Lena to wonder what their angle is--are they setting her up for a fall since they can't fire her? Luckily, Lena has a few friends on the force who are willing to help her on a case that has more questions every day. Will Lena be able to hold on to her job, sanity and life while trying to catch a killer? The Lost Witness is another unputdownable thriller which is reminiscent of Michael Connelly and Robert Crais. I hope Ellis continues to write the Lena Gamble series for a long time. It will be published in February.