Nightbeat: A Bailey and Knowles Mystery

A recent string of violent murders of prostitutes in Quinton, Massachusetts, is consuming all of award-winning crime reporter Devon Bailey’s attention as she covers the murders for the Quinton Herald. While her work occupies her time and her mind, it also helps her move on after the end of her marriage to Ellis Priest. But when Priest leaves a desperate message on her phone from the county jail where he’s being held on suspicion of murder of professional photographer, Carlos Marks, she can’t just let him sit there without finding out what happened. He’s a charming underachiever, but a murderer? Her jailhouse visit lands her in the middle of the investigation of the Marks death. Her life is further complicated when some compromising photos that look like her are found in Marks’ studio.

Devon Bailey and Ari Knowles, the first openly lesbian police officer in the Quinton Police Department, are brought into an uneasy alliance as Bailey continues her investigative reporting on the prostitute murders while quietly trying to clear her husband of the Marks murder. Knowles handles the police investigations of all of them, while keeping an eye on Bailey. An encounter with a known prostitute and a stealth visit to the Marks crime scene lead Bailey to some disturbing connections that prove both risky and life-threatening.