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Detectives Annie Avants and Tom Weston tackle one of the most perplexing murder mysteries since they began working together.
The victim is a local, well-respected attorney who has gone missing.
There's not much evidence to go on. His car was found an hour's drive out of Bakersfield with blood on the passenger seat.
No body has been found.
His staff is in a quandary. He had a new trial scheduled to begin the next morning. Everything was set to go.
And then, he just disappeared.
A mysterious package left in the restroom of the Kern County Courthouse leads our detectives to believe that the attorney is dead.
And now. . . another person has gone missing!
Will our detectives find the answers before a media frenzy erupts in the Kern County/Bakersfield area? Will an FBI profiler be called in to help? Will they come to understand the kinds of criminal minds that lead someone to be a serial killer and narrow the list of suspects?
This fast-paced thriller will keep you reading well into the night to find out 'who dun it?'
Genre: FICTION / Mystery & Detective / GeneralDamage Control has been well received. It is the second book in the Det. Annie Avants crime fictin series. As the other books publish, readers are going back to this book and the first book to see what came before. At one point, it was in the Top 10 of the police procedurals category at Amazon. I am currently working on the fifth book of the series.
REVIEW
"Just finished "Damage Control" by Renee Benzaim and enjoyed it as much, if not more than "Cause of Death", the first in her series about Det. Annie Avants and her very diverse colleagues who work in Kern County, CA. Both books were equally exciting and held my interest to the end. I look forward to the third book in the series, "Southern Secrets." You will also want to check out Ms. Benzaim's other books, a very interesting collection! I highly recommend any one or all of them. She is a very versatile writer. Isabelle Montero, San Francisco, CA.
Detectives Annie Avants and Tom Weston arrived at the Court House amid chaos they couldn't believe. Most of the people had been shepherded over to the parking lot behind the Muni Building. Law enforcement vehicles were everywhere and all the media was represented as well.
Sheriff/Coroner Mick Quinn was standing outside the front doors with the Chief of Police, Lucio Amaral.
"Detectives," the Sheriff said as Annie and Tom approached.
"Hi, Sheriff, Chief," Annie said. "What on earth is going on here?"
"Someone left a box in the ladies restroom with your name on it. The bomb squad has determined that it's not a bomb. We can go in now and see what's in the box and maybe figure out why it was addressed to you, Detective Avants."
When they got to the top floor, the bomb squad had already cleared the box, put it into an evidence bag, and placed it on the conference table.
"What do we have, Sergeant?" Sheriff Quinn asked the leader of the bomb squad.
"Well, Sheriff, it's not a bomb. No one should touch anything until CSU gets here. You will want to have a Deputy Coroner respond as well."
"A Deputy Coroner?" Annie said. "Why do we need a Deputy Coroner?"
"It's a tongue," the Sergeant said.
"What?" Annie said, shocked.
"A severed tongue," he said to Annie. "We didn't look any further into the container. We'll leave that to the Deputy Coroner and the CSU people."
