Ellie Hatcher is a pretty and level-headed rookie detective in New York City. She may be new to the homicide department, but she is older than her years: she is the strong one in the family who cared for her mother when her father was killed in the line of duty while investigating a serial killer. She chose to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a cop. She also decided to move to New York City to keep her likable but scatter-brained brother Jess out of trouble as he pursues a music career along the fringes of New York City’s nightclub scene.

Higher-ups within the NYPD are impressed with Ellie’s credentials and image, and she gets recruited to partner with eccentric officer Flann McIlroy on a strange case. A young woman is murdered in Manhattan, and her case bears striking similarities to another murder a year ago. Both women had been trying to find dates through a new online company, FirstDate.com.

Ellie fits the profile of the victims. So she decides to go online and pose as bait. She and Flann try to interview the employees of FirstDate.com. However, the defensive company CEO Mark Stern stonewalls them, and does everything he can to complicate and hinder their investigation. Is he the killer? Or does he just not want to risk any negative publicity about his business?

Soon Ellie has a lot of troubling leads coming from the current murder victim’s background. She has an enigmatic programmer who used to work for FirstDate.com to help her sort through the intricacies of the internet – including the appallingly easy ways that experienced hackers can unravel one’s entire, supposedly secure, identity.

She also has a good-looking newspaper reporter who would like to start a long-term relationship with her. The only problem is that she met him online through FirstDate.com. He seems like a great guy, but can he be trusted or not? No one is who he seems, and murder suspects abound.

Mystery trivia buffs, Alafair Burke is the daughter of mystery author James Lee Burke. It may be of further interest to you that midway through Dead Connection her main character phones New Iberia, Louisiana for information which enables a brief cameo for Dave Robicheaux, the hero of her dad’s famous series.

Dead Connection is a stand-alone mystery, featuring a likable heroine, and is available on Amazon.com through this link: Dead Connection