NYPD Detective Chiara Corelli here with my partner Detective P.J. Parker describing a day in my life.

This morning we sat for our last interview of the month-long dog and pony show forced on us by the NYPD brass to exploit our successful take down of a white nationalist plot against the government. The department labelled us the Dream Team and made it sound like the two of us did it all by ourselves. In reality, we and our team of detectives uncovered the plot and identified the leaders, but the take down involved not only our team but police and FBI agents from around the country.

I’m not a favorite of the right-wing media and Parker and me being called the Dream Team did not sit well with them so they mocked us with names like Thelma and Louise, and Cagney and Lacey. And just as I feared. Being touted as stars and treated like celebrities had fanned the flame of the underlying resentment and hostility our brethren in blue has nursed toward me since I exposed a ring of dirty cops. That’s why, as we approached the station, one of our colleagues, a detective known for doing the minimum on any case, playing to his group of friends felt free to taunt us with those names.

A fist fight would mean suspension and I was anxious to get back on the job, so we ignored him. However, he came up behind us and attempted to knock me over. That could not be ignored. Without consultation, Parker and I pivoted, backed him up, and pinned his arms and legs to the wall of the stationhouse. I put my arm on his neck, cutting off his air, and forced him to make a fool of himself by stating loudly and clearly, several times, that we were Corelli and Parker. He did so to the laughter, hoots, and whistles of not only his friends but the other police who had gathered to watch the show. Lucky for him, we received a text calling us out to a murder scene. Before we let him go, I whispered if he ever touched either of us again, I would kill him. And I meant it. But to be truthful, that was my PTSD speaking. I’ve only ever killed when it was a matter of kill or be killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. But I wouldn’t hesitate to beat the sh…um, stuffing out of him.

In any case, the texts meant we were truly back on the job. After a month of doing nothing but multiple interviews and speaking engagements every single day, we were hoping for some quiet time out of the spotlight working cold cases. Or maybe investigating a simple domestic murder.

Foolish us. The case we caught wasn’t the low key murder we were hoping for. Instead, Alessandra Moreau, a hugely popular young singer on track to becoming a superstar lay in a circle of blood in the living room of New York State Senator Leigh Drayman, the outspoken, some say notorious, beautiful trans woman activist. Moreau’s carotid arteries were sliced, she’d been stabbed multiple times in the breasts and vaginal area, and posed arms out, legs open, with her lustrous black hair chopped off and strewn over her body. And then, if the star being murdered in Drayman’s house wasn’t bad enough, Drayman shared Moreau’s secret with us. Moreau was a trans woman.

Yikes. The luck of the draw had handed us another headline grabbing case.

Blood of the Innocents: A Chiara Corelli Mystery, Book 5
Genre: Traditional Mystery
Release: February 2025
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Purchase Link

When singer Alessandra Moreau is found brutally murdered in New York State Senator Leigh Drayman’s living room, NYPD Detectives Chiara Corelli and P.J. Parker are thrust into another high-stakes investigation. The victim, a rising star, harbored a closely guarded secret shared with only three people. She was transgender—just like the senator.

What begins as a focused investigation into three suspects explodes into something far more sinister when thirteen identical murders of trans women surface from the past two years. As the body count rises, Corelli and Parker uncover two additional cold cases from nearly two decades ago that could hold the key.

But their quarry is clever, methodical, and has been hiding behind a perfect disguise for years. In a race against time, the detectives must unravel decades of deception before another woman dies.

About the author
Catherine Maiorisi is the author of the NYPD Detective Chiara Corelli mystery series featuring Corelli and her reluctant partner, Detective P.J. Parker. These two tough women fight each other and stand against the blue wall while solving high profile crimes. The four previous books in the series are: A Matter of Blood, a Lambda Literary Award finalist, The Blood Runs Cold, a GCLS Goldie finalist and a Lambda Literary Award finalist, A Message in Blood, and Legacy in the Blood. Catherine has also published five romances, a general fiction novel, and multiple romance and mystery short stories. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. She is also a member of the Golden Crown Literary Society. Visit Catherine at catherinemaiorisi.com.