Judging Time

It's snowing in New York. On the soaring skyscrapers. On the cozy brownstones. And on the sidewalk in front of a trendy West Side restaurant where two bodies lie entangled on the ground. A man and a woman. One viciously stabbed to death, the other the victim of an apparent heart attack. Each married to someone else, both joined in a chilling tableau of death. For Detective Sergeant April Woo, newly promoted to Manhattan's Midtown North, it is a baffling double homicide that screams of race, class, sex, and headlines. Because the dead woman was the beautiful wife of African-American pro football player turned stockbroker Rick Liberty. And the dead man was Liberty's close friend and perhaps his wife's lover. With the heat coming down from City Hall - and Rick Liberty at the center of a raging media frenzy - the pressure is on for the NYPD to bring in a killer. But April isn't so sure Liberty is guilty. Neither is Mike Sanchez, April's former partner, who has just been brought in as a special investigator. As the manhunt turns savage, April and Sanchez must uncover the truth before time runs out on the wrong suspect.