Prior Bad Acts — Tami Hoag

It was a crime so brutal, it changed the lives of even the most hardened cops. Everyone agrees that Karl Dahl is the killer. Only Judge Carey Moore seems to be standing in the way of keeping him in custody. Her ruling that Dahl's prior criminal record is inadmissible raises a public outcry--and makes the judge a target for revenge.

Two of Minneapolis's top cops are called upon to keep her from harm. Detective Sam Kovac is as hard-boiled as they come, and his wisecracking partner, Nikki Liska, isn't far behind. Neither one wants to be on this case, but when Karl Dahl escapes from custody, everything cartwheels out of control. The judge has been kidnapped, and with time already running out, Kovac and Liska are drawn into a maze of smoke and mirrors to find a killer who could be hiding inside any of us.