Wechsler steps into the legal thriller arena with 15 years' experience as a criminal prosecutor along with TV series writing and consulting credentials. The author's first offering is billed as a series opener and introduces Abby Endicott, the homicide unit chief for the Boston District Attorney's office and a native of the city's elite Mission Hill neighborhood. The product of a privileged upbringing, private school education, and rigorous training at Harvard Law, Abby on the surface seems poised for an effortless career ascent, but those expectations are shattered in the novel's opening chapters when she is called to the scene of a murder. The victim is Tim Mooney, a former coworker and clandestine lover. Probing the killing, Abby discovers Tim had been prosecuting a case against Orlando Jones who, years earlier, killed her high school best friend and had gotten off lightly with time served in a juvenile detention center. What follows is a tribute to Abby's toughness and tenacity, traits that will, no doubt, serve her well in future ventures. VERDICT Fans of Alafair Burke's "Samantha Kincaid" series and other legal thriller authors will be well advised to get in on the ground floor of what promises to be an intriguing new series.—Nancy McNicol, Hamden P.L., CT

The worst of times seem to bring out the best in hard-charging Boston homicide prosecutor Abby Endicott, as shown in Wechsler's muscular debut, the first in a series. Fellow prosecutor Tim Mooney, to whom Abby is close, has just been murdered in Jamaica Plain execution-style, on the eve of delivering his opening statement at the trial of gangbanger Orlando Jones, whom Abby blames for the death of her childhood best friend 17 years earlier. Abby being Abby—keen not to let anyone think that her pampered Beacon Hill upbringing and designer duds signify softness—there's no way that she's not going to commandeer the case, even if her involvement could jeopardize the prosecution, not to mention her life. Though the swiftly moving plot offers plenty of surprises, it's the realism with which the author, a seasoned Boston criminal prosecutor who's now a legal consultant for TV shows, depicts varied worlds from Brahmin glitzy to Roxbury gritty that will make readers eager for Abby's next adventure. Agent: Victoria Skurnick, Levine Greenberg Literary Agency. (May)