In the fourth installment of the Ladies Murder Club series, readers will find Lindsay Boxer heading out of time. This is largely because she has come under scrutiny when she is sued for police brutality. She and her long-time partner Jacobi were hunting down a murder with the only really clue being a reference to a high end car with a partial license plate.

After just having had a couple of drinks with Cindy and Claire, she gets a call from Jacobi indicating the car had been seen. He quickly picks her up, and they end up on a chase when they find the car. It leads to an accident. Lindsay and Jacobi find two kids in the car. After putting their weapons away, the older sister starts firing. It leads to a shoot out. She ends up dead, the younger brother ends up in a wheel chair, and both Lindsay and her partner are shot as well. The kids' parents are suing her since they claim she was drunk at the time and didn't follow proper procedure. They leave out the fact= the kids are suspects in the murders being investigated.

Upon advice from her lawyer and soon to be new friend and the newest member of the murder club, Yuki, Lindsay finds herself heading to the seclusion of her sister's home in Half Moon. While things start of nice and relaxing, it does not take long for Lindsay to find herself being drawn into another investigation.

Couples throughout the community have been murdered over the course of recent years, and the pace of the murders is picking up. There seems to be very little tying the victims together other than the fact that all of their throats have been cut, and they were whipped as they lay dying.

The MO reminds Lindsay of her first case, which ended up becoming a cold case. That case did not involve a couple, but a young teen boy, but otherwise the MO was exactly the same.

Lindsay also finds herself catching the eye of a slimy, former porn star. He thinks she is exactly what she needs to relax, but she thinks he is just a jerk. She also meets a really nice, younger auto mechanic who she befriends over a shared interest of fixing up cars.

The book is as quick-paced and interesting as the earlier books in the series. I was a little disappointed because it really focused only on Lindsay. Claire pops up periodically because as the chief medical examiner she must testify in Lindsay's case. Cindy is barely in the book. Fuki does get a nice introduction, but it is not clear that she will step up to be a full replacement for Jill in the club after the former-assistant DA's murder in the previous book. There is generally a lack of the strong teamwork between the various women that has made the series so strong.

I am not sure if the changes are due to the fact that Patterson has switched writing partners or if it was just a result of the storyline itself, which is very possible. It does not mean that it is not a good book, but it was not what I have come to expect from the series.