A bereaved coroner is stymied by the apparent suicide of a beautiful young mother. It's a deadly cold winter in Cleveland, and forensic investigator Theresa MacLean is barely functioning. Still in shock over the murder of her fianc, a cop, she is beginning to screw up, not in her science, but in her handling of the human side of criminal cases. Carried along only by dedication and love for her teenage daughter, but emotionally as frozen as the subzero winds off Lake Erie, Theresa finds herself beginning to thaw after a missing person turns up dead with no signs of violence. In fact, lovely former escort Jillian Perry is found with barely a mark on her, seemingly frozen to death with only one small spot on her sweatshirt sleeve. But would the happy, healthy and loving mother of an infant really have chosen to wander off into the woods to die from exposure? Pairing up with a cousin who was her fianc's partner, Theresa looks into Jillian's strange life and finds that her husband did not father baby Cara; her best friend may have been a stalker; and her late grandparents left a fortune to Cara. Two other cases complicate the story as Theresa delves further into the actions of the stalker-buddy and the now-wealthy husband, analyzing fibers, substances and stomach contents to prove a most ingenious murder. Black (Takeover, 2008), a former forensic scientist, knows her stuff and briskly leads readers along the trail of clues right behind her likeable, no-nonsense heroine. Smart science propels this intelligent, well-thought-out crime thriller. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In this sequel to Takeover, Black paints a believable portrait of a professional woman struggling to move on with her life. Cleveland forensic scientist Theresa MacLean has been in a fog of grief since her fiance, Paul Cleary, was killed in a bank robbery eight months earlier, but her latest case needs all the concentration she can muster. When 24-year-old Jillian Perry, a former escort, turns up dead in the woods, Theresa doubts the police theory that Jillian committed suicide. Jillian was the devoted mother of a five-month-old, and her husband of three weeks, who wasn't the child's father, was on the verge of making big bucks with the innovative video game he and a partner had developed. As Theresa re-examines the evidence, a man claiming to be Jillian's boyfriend wants to claim her body and petitions for custody of her baby. Was he a boyfriend or a stalker? This fast-paced thriller features a lot of detailed forensics with a rip-roaring ending. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Cleveland forensic investigator Theresa MacLean has been operating at half-mast since her fiancé was killed during a bank robbery nearly a year ago. A new case, involving the death of a beautiful young wife and mother, is just what she needs to distract herself from her grief and get her mind back to work. Jillian Perry left behind her life as an escort to marry video game entrepreneur Evan Kovacic, who seemed to embrace life with her five-month-old daughter, Cara. While the baby's biological father is out of picture, an ex-boyfriend named Drew still has designs on Jillian. When she's found frozen to death in the woods near her home, physical evidence points to suicide. But why would a young woman with so much to live for end her own life? After learning that Cara has a huge inheritance, MacLean focuses her attention on Evan, but Drew's erratic behavior troubles her, too. Black has a compelling protagonist in Theresa MacLean, but this second in the series (after Takeover, 2008) lacks the suspense of the first.--Block, Allison Copyright 2009 Booklist

Cleveland forensic examiner Theresa Mac-Lean has her share of troubles; she's a single parent, and her fiance has recently been killed during a bank robbery. When her cousin Frank, a homicide detective, enlists her help in collecting evidence in the death of a former escort, she doesn't expect to become entangled in the investigation. But she can't accept that a recently married woman with a five-month-old baby would take her own life. Clues and evidence elude her, but she can't let go; the personalities of the dead woman and the people surrounding her just don't fit the version of events provided to the police. Theresa's intuition tells her that the woman was murdered, and she intends to do everything she can to prove it. Verdict In this second novel in a new series (after Takeover), Black weaves a highly entertaining if somewhat improbable tale of drama and suspense. Fans of forensic thrillers will look forward to seeing more of her witty and likable heroine.-Linda Oliver, MLIS, Colorado Springs (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.