Judgment of Beasts - Edward J. Leahy

"Author Ed Leahy introduces a deep, strong dose of how fragmented humanity can be, whether seeking justice, witnessing crime, or enjoying the simple perverted joy of ruining people's lives." -C. Hope Clark, The Edisto Island Mysteries

While Detective Kim Brady is in Bermuda recovering from depression, an aid of the mayor's arrives with a summons to return to New York to investigate the assassination of Sabrina Dunn, a long-time critic and political opponent of the mayor's. Although the mayor pledges his full support, Kim can't ignore the mayor's potential motive. But she soon learns of others with a potential motive, including Sabrina's estranged father and a group of investors pushing a major redevelopment project that Sabrina opposed.

The investigation is soon complicated when details are leaked to the press. No sooner does Kim learn the identity of the assassin than his body is found. Shortly after, the assassin's identity is also leaked, along with a report that the mayor and the assassin had at one time been coworkers, a fact the police did not have. Kim struggles to find the source of the leak, to learn if there is some connection between the redevelopment project and the assassination, and to determine, once and for all, the mayor's guilt or innocence.