Detective Jacob Lev has awakened dazed and confused: it appears he picked up a woman the night before, but can’t remember anything about it. And then suddenly, she’s gone. Not long after, he’s dispatched to a murder scene in a house in the Hollywood hills. There is no body, only a head. And seared into a kitchen counter is a message: the Hebrew word for justice.

Lev is about to embark on an odyssey — through Los Angeles, London, and Prague, through the labyrinthine mysteries of a grotesque ancient legend, and most of all, through himself. All that he has believed to be true will be upended. And not only his world, but the world itself, will be changed.

Tough and aggressive, short-tempered and quick-thinking — Lt. Jim Reardon was one of San Francisco’s best cops. And Robert L. Pike, the creator of Bullitt, has also made him one of the most exciting and resourceful heroes currently tracking down criminals in police procedural novels.Reardon’s new case begins with the murder of a prominent gangster in a waterfront bar. Syndicate killings are nothing new, but this one was different: it was as big a surprise to the mob as it was to the Homicide Division. Then another leading figure in Bay Area organized crime fell — or was pushed — out the window of his 15th-floor apartment, and it began to look as though someone was out to get all four men on Captain Tower’s personal “Most Wanted” list.The list had been widely publicized, there were dozens of people with motive and opportunity, and in each case, the killer left plenty of witnesses and clues. That was precisely Reardon’s problem: too many clues, too many suspects, and too little real information. There was a mysterious girl asking directions in an unlikely neighborhood, an angry madam, a stunning female impersonator, and a girl drinking an improbable cocktail called a “Gremlin’s Grampa.” Could they all be the same person? Was she (or he) the murderer, an accomplice, or just another blind alley?Unravelling the crime involves Reardon’s usual partner, Sergeant Dondero, his regular girl, Jan Conroy, and a spectacular chase along San Franciscos streets and expressways, when Reardon finally realizes he has had the crucial details all the time — but may have taken too long to put them together.

In the peaceful wooded valley outside Swainshead, a body lies rotting. It is the second mysterious death here in recent years — and it won't be the last… Inspector Banks knows that once a body is uncovered, other things surface as well. Family rivalries. Secret passions. Private shames. And now he must walk into the valley of death and bring a killer out of hiding…