By T. Jefferson Parker
Hyperion
Hardcover, Audio Cassette (Abridged) and Audio Cassette (Unabridged) Editions

Archie and Gwen Wildcraft seem to have it all. He's a young cop and she's a beautiful woman with a head for business.

Then their promising future together is brutally put to an end.

Gwen's found dead in the couple's home. And Archie's got a bullet in his brain, barely clinging to life.

All clues point to a botched murder/suicide. But detective Merci Rayborn's on the case and she suspects there's more to the story than just the evidence.

Black Water Book Excerpt Merci noted the fresh pot of coffee on the maker, unpoured, the machine still wheezing. A timer, she thought, confidently programmed to make coffee that Archie and Gwen Wildcraft would never touch. A red colander filled with oranges sat on the counter and a curved wooden stand dangled a bunch of pale bananas. The word waste came to her mind, as it often did. ©2002 T. Jefferson Parker Published with permission from Hyperion

Rayborn tries to believe in Deputy Wildcraft, even though her opinion's betrayed her before. As she searches for a definitive answer, the one person that could help solve the crime winds up disappearing.

Archie checks himself out of the hospital. He's on a mission as mysterious as the circumstances behind his wife's death.

Rayborn launches a manhunt but isn't sure if it's for a killer or a victim. Just when she thinks she has an innocent man on her hands, more victims start to surface. Is Archie Wildcraft a man dedicated to his wife or a madman finally letting go?

Merci finds herself in the middle with more questions than answers. And time is running out for the one person she wants to save.

Bookworm's Briefing
Detective Merci Rayborn returns in T. Jefferson Parker's new thriller. Black Water is filled with the dangerous plot curves that made Parker a bestselling author. Rayborn's personal struggles, emotions and life in general make her more real than most people.