The Cold Truth - Softcover

Stone, Jonathan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312971435 ISBN 13: 9780312971434

Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks, 2000

Synopsis

Female NYPD trainee Julian Palmer has come to a frigid corner of Upstate New York to work alongside legendary police chief Winston "Bear" Edwards-to help solve the brutal murder of a young waitress, and perhaps learn a thing or two along the way.

Julian knows that Edwards, an Old School cop if there ever were one, isn't happy about a female rookie assisting him-or the strange local psychic they've called in to help. Still, she's a bit in awe of the old Bear-he has, after all, solved every murder case he's ever worked on. Except this one.

Now, as Julian and Edwards investigate, they are thrust into a labyrinthine mystery, where endless twists and turns keep the case as compelling as it is elusive. And as the snow continues to fall on rural New York, hiding everything beneath a glistening white blanket, it might also cover up the only thing that will solve this case: The Cold Truth...

About this title

Review:

What's a smart, gorgeous, young female cop named Julian Palmer from the NYPD doing up to her nightstick in snow in the upstate New York town of Canaanville? Having a wonderful time, as it turns out. "There was something about that white blanket that captivated her.... It seemed like a way of forgetting. A way of softly covering everything up. Of starting anew," says Jonathan Stone in his impressively tricky first novel.

Julian, a cop with a sad secret, has applied for an Advanced Associates Internship, a program designed to drop police officers into totally different environments. She chooses Canaanville for its weather and the chance to work with its legendary police chief, Winston "Bear" Edwards, who has never let a local murder go unsolved for longer than two weeks.

But Julian arrives a month after the brutal stabbing death of a 21-year-old waitress, and Edwards is still seriously stumped. (He's also miffed that Julian turns out to be a woman in spite of her name, but he quickly gets over that.) The crotchety Edwards even agrees to let a psychic named Wayne Hill sniff around the case, and the exceedingly strange but ultimately sympathetic Hill actually comes up with a couple of clues. But Jonathan Stone has more on his mind than debunking or defending psychics. He has set himself a daredevil challenge--walking a tightrope over yawning chasms of possible disbelief and disaster with the skill of a master. The Cold Truth is the kind of book that keeps making you say, "Oh, no--he's not going to try that!" Then he tries it, pulls it off, and goes on to make you say it again. --Dick Adler

From the Publisher:

"Fast Furious, mazey and gothic, with a solution as chilling as an upstate New York winter. This is prime entertainment." --Ian Rankin, Gold Dagger-winning author of Black and Blue and The Hanging Garden

"A spooky winner. This shiver delivers." --Leslie Glass, nationally best-selling author of Judging Time

"Jonathan Stone's The Cold Truth is a strong debut. It's smart, fast, and light on its feet. Stone has a gift for the whodunit, and he takes delight in spinning heads, playing with our emotions and our intellects, surprising us. I enjoyed The Cold Truth--it's clever, bold, and a little nasty." --T. Jefferson Parker, best-selling author of Laguna Heat

About this edition

• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0312971435
• ISBN 13: 9780312971434
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352