Cop Town by Karin Slaughter

 

It's 1974 and in Atlanta, Georgia, it's still a man's world.  Kate Murphy, from the wealthy Buckhead neighborhood, is looking for purpose in her life after her young husband is killed in the military.  She hates secretarial work and joins the police force which is recruiting women.  The existing force, mainly white men, don't want the women.  They look down on women, blacks, gays and all other minorities.  White men have the power and they don't intend to share it.  They sexually harass the women with no compunction.  

But someone is determined to change the force.  The Shooter has killed five policemen and its only by a miracle the sixth has escaped.  Maggie Lawson, Kate's partner, is from a police family with her uncle and brother both on the force and both determined to get Maggie off of it.  Jimmy is the sixth policeman who escaped The Shooter.  As a survivor, he's in the best position to give a description but his account of what happened doesn't ring true.  What is he hiding?

Most readers will know Karin Slaughter for her series about Grant County and the one featuring Will Trent.  This novel is a stand-alone and it depicts a police force that is full of racism and casual violence, of men who drink on the job and have affairs while on duty.  Kate Murphy is a young woman trying to find her place, running into walls wherever she turns but determined to make a go of being a police woman.  The only quibble I have is that Kate finds herself in an affair with a man who clearly doesn't love her or even value her and she could do much better than that.  The mystery of The Shooter is full of twists and the reader will be surprised as much as anyone at the denouement.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.