The Silent Girl by Tess Gerritsen

 A Rizzoli & Isles Novel
2011

Gerritsen’s Rizzoli and Isles series benefits from having two main characters.  Some books focus more on Jane Rizzoli and some, more on Maura Isles.  This one is almost all Jane.  Jane and her partner Frost are called to the homicide of an Asian woman found on a rooftop with her neck sliced through and her hand sliced off.  The victim’s gps points to two addresses connected with a 19-year-old massacre in a Chinese restaurant.  Jane and Frost are being assisted by a new detective, Tam, who has more experience with the Chinese culture.  Jane repeatedly puts herself in danger, drawing the ire of her husband, eventually winding up in the clutches of the true criminals.

The complex plot is based in Chinese folklore--specifically, the Monkey King.  The Monkey King fights for justice, but he will cause mischief and mayhem along the way.  In this mystery, involving immigrant Chinese, the restaurant massacre, and missing girls, someone is using the Monkey King to obscure themselves as they act outside of the law.

I’m looking forward to the return of the TNT TV series.  The series is based on the first two books with added plotlines more suitable to a TV series.