Death Games — Michael Jahn

Why is a beauty from the horse country of Virginia stalking and killing mobsters with a Civil War pistol? The top brass of the New York Police Department think she’s a hired killer. But Bill Donovan, head of the West Side Major Crimes Unit, knows it’s much more complicated. And before long the mysterious “hit lady” has drawn him into a web of international intrigue, revenge, and death. Characters to watch are assorted Mafia hoods; a passel of eccentrics who live at the Seventy-ninth Street Boat Basin; the regulars at Riley’s saloon—Donovan’s favorite hangout and (perhaps) Clint, Donovan’s ill-tempered snapping turtle. Also on hand are Sgt. T. L. Jefferson, Donovan’s redoubtable assistant, and Sgt. Marcia Barnes, the black undercover policewoman who is his on-again, off-again lover. Here’s another jaunty big city thriller by the author of the much acclaimed Night Rituals.