Cold Fire — David Crane

Living in 22nd century America fifty years after the Second Civil War, detective Nina Tarot is a member of SPEAR, Special Police Emergency Advanced Response, an elite crime fighting unit that knows no equal. Robots are an integral part of human society, assiting mankind in exploration of space and oceans as well as construction and law enforcement. By law it is forbidden to advance the power of Artificial Intelligence beyond the prescribed limits and build machines that look and act like humans. But someone broke that law, declaring war against the organized crime. In pursuit of a ruthlessly efficient and elusive assassin who looks like a young teenage girl, Nina suspects that the killer may not be human at all. Following the trail of blood, Nina will come face to face with a shocking conspiracy that stretches back to the last days of the Second Civil War. But Nina's own success as a SPEAR agent is based on her own dark secret that if revealed will taint her life and honor forever.