Sadie When She Died (87th Precinct)

Christmas is coming. But erudite attorney Gerry Fletcher got his present early: his wife€s body with a knife buried in it. Though he shamelessly cops to being happy she€s dead, his alibi is airtight and all signs point to a burglary gone bad. But even when detectives Steve Carella and Bert Kling follow the clues to a junky punk and get a full confession, Carella can€t quit thinking there€s something about the case that€s as phony as a sidewalk Santa€s beard. Maybe it€s because the victim€s husband wants to pal around with the suspicious cop on a cryptic pub-crawl through the urban jungle. Or maybe it€s the dead woman€s double identity and little black book full of secret lovers. Whether she was Sarah the shrewish wife or Sadie the sex-crazy swinger, there€s more to her murder than just a bad case of €œwrong place, wrong time.€ And Carella won€t rest till his cuffs are on the killer.