Barbara D'Amato Books in Order

A bomb kills drug-decriminalization campaigner Louise Sugarman and puts Chicago reporter Cat Marsala on the story. As Cat investigates activists, opponents, police, and possible mob ties, the political debate turns into a personal danger.

Recently separated Samantha Lawton is raising two sons when a string of alarming accidents begins to point toward them. To protect her family, she must uncover what is really happening before her boys become the only suspects.

Cat Marsala joins wealthy guests aboard a luxury yacht, despite being unable to swim. A storm, a locked cabin, and a murdered passenger leave her stranded at sea with a killer and no easy way to call for help.

A state lottery official falls to his death moments before meeting Cat Marsala about missing funds. Certain it was murder, Cat digs into a powerful family whose lottery jobs, money, and mob ties make everyone a possible suspect.

This true-crime investigation reexamines the conviction of Chicago physician Dr. John Branion for his wife's murder. D'Amato follows the evidence, legal failures, and long campaign that challenged the official story of the case.

Cat researches prostitution for a television documentary and gives young escort Sandra Love temporary shelter. When Sandra is murdered, Cat enters a dangerous world of vice cops, drugs, political hypocrisy, and people who want the story buried.

While reporting on a Chicago trauma center, Cat Marsala finds its new director murdered in the staff lounge. With the unit cut off from the hospital around it, Cat investigates doctors and nurses who all had access.

Cat heads to a Michigan Christmas-tree farm for a quiet feature story, only to find a murdered gang boss and a family under strain. Learning the DeGraafs' history becomes vital as old secrets make the case painfully personal.

When computer engineer Sheryl Birch uncovers a hidden database at her company, she is pushed into a suspicious accident. Her sister, Chicago cop Suze Figueroa, uncovers a corporate conspiracy that reaches toward the presidency.

Cat Marsala investigates a domestic shooting that appears to be damaging her friend, Chief of Detectives Harold McCoo. Rival police leaders, leaked reports, and a letter bomb turn one questionable account into a high-stakes political fight.

A Chicago police superintendent is forced to confront evidence from a deadly raid decades earlier. His troubled brother uses the past as a weapon, threatening careers, an election, and the department's already fragile public trust.

This collection gathers twelve mystery stories featuring Cat Marsala, Suze Figueroa, Norm Bennis, and other sharp-eyed characters. The title tale follows a disgruntled writer with an inventive way of answering a cruel review.

Cat Marsala goes undercover at a Chicago food business after human remains are found among its soup bones. The murder leads her through a kitchen full of grudges, secrets, and people determined to stop her questions.

Three-year-old Danielle Gaston is abducted from a cathedral by a man posing as a priest. As Chicago police race to find her, Deputy Chief Polly Kelly confronts a cruel online countdown that makes every passing hour public.

Chicago cop Suze Figueroa hunts a serial killer while an unseen intruder occupies her own Victorian home. As the stranger watches her family and handles her belongings, Suze's place of safety becomes the most dangerous part of the case.

At a Chicago Oz festival, Cat Marsala sees two killings and watches evidence point toward her brother Barry. Determined to clear him, she follows a dangerous trail through festival secrets while protecting her young nephew.

A medical test convinces pathologist Dooley McSweeney that his adopted son may not be the Russian orphan he was promised. His search for the child's identity converges with a journalist's investigation into a deadly international adoption racket.

When autism specialist Dr. Jay Schermerhorn is tortured to death during a reunion at his Chicago residential school, detectives Emily Folkestone and Ollie Park face difficult witnesses and a respected victim with a deeply troubling past.

After surviving 9/11 by chance, Brenda Grant and Daniel Henderson build a software security firm and uncover a plot to rig a presidential election. This collaborative thriller trades village mystery for high-tech conspiracy and global danger.

Forensic archaeologist Blue Eriksen believes ancient evidence could lead to a treatment for drug addiction. As she prepares for a Peruvian dig, an international drug organization decides her research makes her too dangerous to live.

Forensic pathologist Gerritt De Graaf investigates violence in Young Lake, a supposedly peaceful retirement community. After escalating incidents and murdered children shatter the calm, he must find which resident is frightened or ruthless enough to kill.

Dr. Adam Cotton is killed during a bridge party, though no one appears to have entered the room. Forensic pathologist Gerritt De Graaf must untangle an impossible crime where fingerprints, medicine, and moral choices all matter.