Paperback Original

February 17, 2026 Publication Date

In this newest entry in A.F. Carter’s Edgar-nominated Delia Mariola series, a group of corrupt cops infiltrates the Baxter P.D. and an undercover agent must work to disarm them. 

Baxter’s a city on the move. You can’t drive along a single street without running into a construction project. The smell of money and opportunity is equally pervasive, with new restaurants, boutiques, and hotels quickly replacing the old motels, corner stores, and dive bars. And this influx of money and people creates new opportunities not only for the workers and entrepreneurs of Baxter, but for career criminals as well…

Captain Delia Mariola understands all of this, and the Baxter Police Department is prepared to battle against the drug dealers, pimps, and stick-up artists constantly streaming into town. Or, it should be. The department began recruiting shortly after the Nissan contract was awarded, which began the city’s rapid transformation, but the commission vetting new hires rushed to bring in almost anyone with a law enforcement background. Men and women were added as fast as they applied, creating a vortex that perfectly suited a group of ex-cops from Missouri as corrupt as they are brutal. Championed by Bute Stafford, candidate for mayor, they aim to run the Baxter P.D. and, through it, the entire city.

Delia’s not afraid—not of these crooked cops nor of the higher-ups who protect them. But she surely needs help and finds it in the form of Tom Carney. An experienced undercover from faraway Philadelphia, his status is known only by Delia and the commissioner. That secret proves invaluable as Carney weaves unsuspected through Baxter’s underworld. But to what end? Does Carney serve the people of Baxter? Or is the supremely charismatic man playing a game of his own? Delia isn’t sure and won’t be until the endgame lays everyone’s cards on the table.

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