Were you expecting NYPD Detective Chiara Corelli? Sorry to disappoint you. Corelli mentioned me in previous appearances on Dru’s Musings but just to refresh your memory, I’m her partner, Detective P.J. Parker. The partner thing is new. Before Legacy in the Blood, she was training me to investigate homicides. But in Legacy a dead man with no identification is found in Penny Park. Since it appeared to be a simple murder, no high-profile victims, no politics like our last case, Corelli decided it would be good starter case for me. And just like that I was the lead on my first homicide investigation. Scary. But exciting.

But Corelli is a better detective and partner than she is prognosticator. Oops sorry for the big word. Corelli would say it’s my Yale undergrad and Harvard Law school education showing. But to get back to my thought. Corelli couldn’t have been more off base. In fact, the case involved several murders, racism, white nationalism, and a threat to our democracy. Simple my ass.

When I thought about which day in my life to share, I considered describing the terrific detective work it took for me and my team to discover that the dead man was a blackmailing investigative reporter looking into a threat to our country. We also found that a caller to his tip line was murdered after informing the white nationalist Harrington Davenport family that she and they had a common black ancestor. This might be hard news for any white nationalist to deal with but the Harrington Davenports were not just any white nationalists; they were leaders in the movement. To say that that news would shake their world is an understatement.

But the typical day on this case was something unusual for me and very different from the day-to-day slog of interviewing suspects, reading reports and so on. It started with the third murder. When Corelli and I went to interview Harrington Davenport about the two murders that seemed connected to his black ancestor, we found him dead. In pursuing the case we interviewed his mother Phillipa Harrington Davenport, a formidable, fanatic white nationalist leader in a movement that disdains women, and many of his white nationalist friends and associates. Rumors of a secret plan to attack democracy were rampant.

As a Black woman I’ve experienced my share of microaggressions. Who hasn’t? But whether it was my white aspiring uncle’s influence or my upper-class life and education, white nationalism didn’t affect my day-to-day life and I never gave it much thought. But as a Black woman in a position of power—the lead detective investigating the murder of one of their leaders—once I stepped into the Harrington Davenport white nationalist world my typical day was filled with condescension, blatant racism and hatred that I knew existed but never in my life experienced.

The good news is that those people were forced to deal with me. Even better, Corelli and I and of course our team of detectives solved the murders, foiled their plan to attack our democracy and brought them all down.

Not bad for my first case as lead detective. And, oh, did I forget to mention that my romantic life is looking up?

Legacy in the Blood, A Chiara Corelli Mystery #4
Genre: Police Procedural
Release: February 2022
Purchase Link

NYPD Detectives Chiara Corelli and P.J. Parker are assigned what should be a straight-forward murder investigation. But what seems to be the simple murder of a man found in a park gets more complicated when they identify him as Ned Rich, a somewhat paranoid investigative reporter who seems to be living above his means.

The more they dig, the more victims of Rich’s blackmail they find. And figuring out which one killed him seems like an impossible task. But then they stumble on the project Rich was working on at the time of his death—a not so white supremacist and a threat to our democracy—and the focus of the investigation turns to people who will do anything to protect their reputations and the secrecy of their traitorous goals.

Undeterred by the threats and attacks, Corelli and Parker battle to drag the traitors into the light—and put their lives on the line to defend all they believe in.

About the author
Catherine Maiorisi lives in New York City. She is the author of the NYPD Detective Chiara Corelli mystery series featuring Corelli and her partner, Detective P.J. Parker. Two tough women solving high profile crimes.

Legacy in the Blood is the fourth book in the series. The others are A Matter of Blood, a Lambda Literary Award finalist, The Blood Runs Cold, a Lambda Literary Award finalist, and A Message in Blood.

Catherine is an active member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. Visit Catherine at catherinemaiorisi.com.

All comments are welcomed.