Deceived by Ornament is a thoroughly New Yorkie novel authored by a proud New Yorker on a creative roll. -Gillespie Lamb, The Junkyard Dick

Detective Kim Brady must find the killer of Mariano Avila, beloved community activist and immigration lawyer in Brooklyn. The only eyewitness, Amara, a fifteen-year-old undocumented escapee from a human trafficking ring, has described the killer as wearing a police uniform. Kim discovers the details of the murder match those of a cold case from several months earlier.

Saddled with a partner who is an unqualified rookie cop forced on her unit by a local state senator with mayoral aspirations, Kim’s investigation is micromanaged from above. She soon finds herself in a maelstrom of competing jurisdictions and interests as she struggles to determine if the killer is a cop or an imposter, whether he is a serial killer or part of a larger domestic terrorist plot.

When she discovers that a close friend of the victim in the cold case, Rafer Harwood, is part of an anti-immigrant militia suspected of planning a major terror event, she can explain the second murder but not the first. She must protect Amara and find both the killer and the real leader of the militia.

Deceived By Ornament, A Kim Brady Mystery. An engrossing crime thriller by Edward J. Leahy.