Silenced

It’s murder when free speech collides with free enterprise.Still bearing the psychological scars from her reporting of his assault by an ex-lover and the subsequent departure from the Rancho Linda Police Department it caused, Deputy Chief Vasily Korsokovach has - at best - a chilly relationship with the award-winning local reporter Vivian Grandchester. Well known for being a frequent critic of law enforcement, Grandchester’s annoying propensity for injecting herself into any high-profile case in Southern California often brought with it the sort of media exposure Vas had only previously experienced while competing as an Olympic swimmer. So he’s not sure if it’s some sort of karmic revenge for dodging her repeated requests to sit for an exclusive interview about the murder of actor Rebecca McClure when Grandchester’s body is found beneath a pallet of building supplies at an affordable housing construction site in the heart of the city. Discovering why the reporter was at the construction site reveals a missing trove of research Grandchester had compiled, preparation for a planned multipart exposé on a Rancho Linda real estate development firm long rumored to have questionable financial ties to the shadier countries of Eastern Europe. Having himself been on the receiving end of just such an article, Vasily has no problem assuming the persistent Grandchester uncovered something the firm - and its enigmatic head - would prefer to keep from seeing daylight. As Vas digs through a tangled web of finance deals and the dark money backing them, it becomes clear Grandchester was silenced before she could publish a single word. And when clues begin to point to a killer capable of coldly calculating how targeted murder can benefit their bottom line, Vasily is forced to take questionable steps to protect everything he cares about in order to solve the case...