Leaving L.A.'s Parker Center, Shane Scully and his wife, Alexa, agree to meet at home in one hour. Shane gets there; Alexa doesn't. In the middle of the night, he's called to a crime scene on Mulholland Drive: The African-American victim, who appears to be a Crip gangbanger, has been executed gangland style. Shockingly, the body is in Alexa's car and her gun is found nearby. But Alexa is missing. Shane's frantic investigation into his wife's disappearance soon takes him inside a bitter and violent feud between two rival hip-hop record companies. At the center of this war is one of the most lethal adversaries he's ever encountered: Stacy Maluga, a trashy, beautiful Lady Macbeth-like white woman raised in Compton, married to a multi-millionaire rap mogul and known in the gangsta hip-hop world as the White Sister. Shane is no stranger to big trouble, but this time he's met his match in a powerful and media-savvy enemy who could put him in jail, order a hit on him, or utterly destroy his reputation. Worse, Shane fears that his wife may be dead and that the White Sister is behind it.
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"I loved the Rockford Files, which this author wrote and produced. Stephan J. Cannell is equally creative in his crime fiction books. Highly recommend as a fun read. Read the ones featuring the LAPD detective Shane Scully in order if you can. You get to see his life evolve that way and you really get to know and care about the characters."
— Sjoen (5 out of 5 stars)
Cannell's strong suit has always been unique characters, and Scully's world-weary cop and family man is no exception. Add to that an intriguing mystery, authentic cop jargon (smoothly translated), snapshot descriptions of Southern California locales and a couple of tense and amusing LAPD-Homeland Security face-offs. Brick's rendition is clear, precise and effective in adding accent touches.
— Publishers Weekly on Cold Hit" Very Good; Continuing character: Shane Scully; A bad cop is dead, and Shanes detective wife admits she killed him before trying to kill herself; the truth might be found amongst a bunch of rap artists and gang bangers "
— Joe, 1/9/2014" Held my suspense, but there were so many names of Rap groups and gangsters, I was a bit confused. "
— Kimberly, 1/6/2014" Great storyteller, reads like tv, Lots of detail, the hero lapd detective has a run in with homeless guy, his wife is shot and close to death, he has to clear her by entering hip hop world. Very entertaining - lots of twists "
— Liz, 12/24/2013" Totally escapist. Apparently not the first in the series, and I was not totally thrilled with the deus ex machina at the end, but for a waste-away-the-day mystery, it was not bad. (I always did like Rockford Files, and this has that flavor -- must mean that Stephen Cannell really DID write RF) "
— Stephanie, 12/17/2013" A good read. The plot gets a bit convoluted and - with the "gangsta" names and aliases of the rap music suspects - a requires a bit of concentrations as to who is who, but a good one. "
— Dan, 11/26/2013" I liked this book. In my opionion, they get a little far fetched towards the end, but it moved along at a good pace. "
— Dorothy, 11/4/2013" A great story again in this series. Shane's wife is attacked and almost dies and he spends his time trying to find out what happened, and entangles himself in a plot much thicker than he expected. But it all ends happily for the Scully family, which I was glad to read! "
— Kristen, 9/26/2013" Pretty awful, but what should I expect with a title like that? "
— Lori, 8/31/2013" Best Scully book I've read. "
— Corinne, 7/18/2013" I didn't much care for this book. It took me forever to read. I skimmed through a bunch of pages just to get to the end. It seemed like I was watching a low budget kind of movie. Not a book I would spend my money on. Luckily, I got this one for free overseas while deployed. "
— Ana, 6/3/2013" Excellent read.only recently realised that this author gave us tv series such as The Rocford Files.. Really like his work "
— zenbren, 4/9/2013" I enjoyed this book it was probably out of the 6 I have read the 3 or 4th favorite. It deals with events that can really happen and Mr Cannell i a great store teller. "
— Nick, 3/29/2013" I love the Shane Scully books. He just really seems like such a great guy. I was sad to learn that Stephen J. Cannell had passed away. "
— Sonya, 2/25/2013" Didn't live up to the jacket cover but still a pretty good read. Although I was happy about the ending, it was a bit disappointing to be "sentimental". Felt a bit like a cop-out. "
— Jenny, 2/16/2013" reads just like one of his tv shows - great beach material "
— Jane, 12/12/2012" Decent story line. A little confusing trying to keep characters straight. "
— Barb, 6/26/2012" DNF, did not even get through the first disc. Could not get into it at all "
— Gail/Ladyvolz, 4/12/2012" Good but not one of his great writings. Entertaining. "
— Melinda, 3/26/2012" I am a fan on Stephen Cannell's Shane & Alexa Scully books but I have to place this one way at the bottom of my list. I especially grew weary of the constant profanity used by the homeless man who is woven in and out of the book and has little significance to the story. "
— Judy, 11/14/2011" this shane scully mystery has it all - drugs, sex, and rock n roll, music in this case is hiphop. a guilty pleasure! "
— Barb, 4/28/2011" Stephen Cannell writes fun, page turners. Shane Scully is a flawed LA detective with lots of street smarts. A beach read, but a good one. It is sad the series has ended with his untimely death last year. "
— Bruce, 3/27/2011" Very Good; Continuing character: Shane Scully; A bad cop is dead, and Shanes detective wife admits she killed him before trying to kill herself; the truth might be found amongst a bunch of rap artists and gang bangers<br/> "
— Joe, 11/19/2010" Great storyteller, reads like tv, Lots of detail, the hero lapd detective has a run in with homeless guy, his wife is shot and close to death, he has to clear her by entering hip hop world. Very entertaining - lots of twists "
— Liz, 3/31/2010" reads just like one of his tv shows - great beach material "
— Jane, 12/28/2009" I don't like when you put Alexa in this much danger! I had to skim the book too fast to make sure the author did not write her out as too many tv writers do for episodic series. "
— Hikerdee, 11/6/2009" DNF, did not even get through the first disc. Could not get into it at all "
— Gail/Ladyvolz, 4/11/2009" Decent story line. A little confusing trying to keep characters straight. "
— Barb, 1/12/2009" Totally escapist. Apparently not the first in the series, and I was not totally thrilled with the deus ex machina at the end, but for a waste-away-the-day mystery, it was not bad. (I always did like Rockford Files, and this has that flavor -- must mean that Stephen Cannell really DID write RF) "
— Stephanie, 10/25/2008" I didn't much care for this book. It took me forever to read. I skimmed through a bunch of pages just to get to the end. It seemed like I was watching a low budget kind of movie. Not a book I would spend my money on. Luckily, I got this one for free overseas while deployed. "
— Ana, 8/29/2008" Good but not one of his great writings. Entertaining. "
— Melinda, 7/22/2008" I enjoyed this book it was probably out of the 6 I have read the 3 or 4th favorite. It deals with events that can really happen and Mr Cannell i a great store teller. "
— Nick, 7/7/2008" I liked this book. In my opionion, they get a little far fetched towards the end, but it moved along at a good pace. "
— Dorothy, 8/14/2007Stephen J. Cannell (1941–2010) was the author of the New York Times bestselling Shane Scully books, including The Prostitute’s Ball, The Pallbearers, and Three Shirt Deal. He was also an Emmy Award–winning television writer and producer, and in his thirty-five-year career, he created or cocreated more than forty television series. He was a third-generation Californian and resided in the Pasadena area with his wife, Marcia, and their children.
Scott Brick, an acclaimed voice artist, screenwriter, and actor, has performed on film, television, and radio. He attended UCLA and spent ten years in a traveling Shakespeare company. Passionate about the spoken word, he has narrated a wide variety of audiobooks. winning won more than fifty AudioFile Earphones Awards and several of the prestigious Audie Awards. He was named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine and the Voice of Choice for 2016 by Booklist magazine.