Patterson reteams with crime novelist Fox (they wrote the Detective Harriet Blue series together) for this new mystery, which reads like a series-launcher. Defense lawyer Rhonda Bird is not terribly surprised to learn that her estranged father has died, but she is downright shocked to learn that she is now legal guardian to her teenage half-sister and owner of her father's detective agency (neither of which, until now, she even imagined existed). Rhonda has no intention of keeping the business going, and it's clear that her new sister has no interest in building a relationship, but soon she and Baby (as the girl likes to be called) find themselves, against all odds, working together to shut down a psychopath who uses kids to wreak havoc and to stop a grieving former assassin from carrying out his murderous revenge. The story nudges up against the edge of believability, but the authors sell it well, and readers will likely be glued to the page.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Readers will want to get in on the ground floor of what seems to be a new series from Patterson and Fox.

The coauthors of the "Harriet Blue" series bring on something new: the story of two sisters who join the family business--chasing down killers--that they never knew existed. Like Hush, the last "Harriet Blue" title, this one comes in two formats; a 400,000 copy paperback and 25,000-copy hardcover first printing.