Open Season

Miller (One Small Victory) spins a tight tale that's a cut above the average police procedural in this first of a new series introducing Dallas police detective Sarah Kingsly. Still reeling from community protests over her accidental shooting of a 14-year-old African-American boy during an undercover drug operation that went awry and left her partner dead, Sarah anxiously awaits the ruling of the Dallas Review Board. Meanwhile, in a PR move, her superiors team her with a new, African-American partner, Angel Johnson. Both women must overcome their mistrust of each other and thorny racial conflicts as they try to solve a series of mall murders, in which three men with drug problems are garroted to death with piano wire by a killer who leaves increasingly frantic messages at the crime scenes. The investigation tests Sarah and Angel in ways both expected and unexpected. Readers will want to see more of these engaging female cops. (Dec.)