10th Anniversary

The 10th installment in James Patterson and Maxine Paetro's Women's Murder Club series follows four friends in San Francisco as they tackle interconnected cases involving a missing newborn, a contentious murder trial, and a serial rapist.

The novel opens with San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) Homicide Sergeant Lindsay Boxer preparing for her wedding to Joe Molinari. Her closest friends serve as bridesmaids: Claire Washburn, a medical examiner; Cindy Thomas, a crime reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle; and Yuki Castellano, an assistant district attorney. Lindsay's father, Marty Boxer, who abandoned the family years earlier, fails to appear despite promising to attend. Warren Jacobi, Lindsay's former partner and now chief of police, steps in to walk her down the aisle at the Ritz in Half Moon Bay.

When Lindsay returns to work, she reports to a new lieutenant, Jackson Brady, a transfer from Miami PD who took the supervisory position Lindsay turned down. Brady assigns Lindsay and her partner, Inspector Rich Conklin, to an urgent case: A 15-year-old girl named Avis Richardson has been found near Lake Merced, hemorrhaging from a recent childbirth. Her baby is missing. Avis is barely conscious and provides only fragments: She called a number for pregnant girls, met two men with a blue sedan, and glimpsed a baby boy before waking alone on the street. K-9 units trace a circular blood trail but find no origin point, suggesting Avis was transported by car. Through Facebook, Lindsay discovers Avis attends Brighton Academy, an elite boarding school, but by morning Avis has escaped the hospital.

A parallel storyline follows Yuki as she prosecutes Dr. Candace Martin, a heart surgeon charged with first-degree murder for shooting her husband, Dennis Martin. Yuki's case rests on gunshot residue found on Candace's hands and the murder weapon recovered at the scene. She argues that Candace killed Dennis over his habitual infidelity and taunting. Defense attorney Philip Hoffman counters that Candace heard shots from her home office, found Dennis dead, saw an intruder flee, picked up the dropped gun, and fired into the air, explaining the residue. He seats the Martin children, Caitlin and Duncan, in the front row to generate jury sympathy. Key prosecution witnesses include a private investigator who photographed Candace meeting a man he identifies as Gregor Guzman, a contract killer on the FBI's Most Wanted list; the family nanny, Ellen Lafferty, who testifies she saw Candace with a gun the evening of the murder; and a shopkeeper who sold Dennis a .22 handgun, the same type as the murder weapon.

Hoffman asks Lindsay to interview Candace, claiming the wrong person is on trial. Despite Brady's direct order to drop the matter, Lindsay visits Candace in jail. Candace insists Ellen lied about the gun and theorizes that Ellen was sleeping with Dennis and may have killed him. When Lindsay tells Yuki about the meeting, Yuki accuses Lindsay of undermining the prosecution.

Meanwhile, Cindy investigates a series of rapes in which women are drugged, assaulted, and returned near their homes with no memory of what happened. Additional survivors share the same pattern: unexplained blackouts, signs of sexual trauma, and belongings left intact. A witness reports seeing one survivor dragged from a yellow minivan cab, leading Cindy to Quick Express Taxi in the Tenderloin, where she meets dispatcher Al Wysocki. Cindy writes a front-page series on the attacks, temporarily driving the rapist underground.

The Richardson case stalls until Lindsay pressures Avis into admitting that her English teacher, Jordan Ritter, is the baby's father and that she placed her own ad on Prattslist, a classified website, to find adoptive parents. Two women, Toni and Sandy, responded, assisted in the delivery, and took the baby. Avis and Ritter then flee to Mexico.

Conklin proposes to Cindy at Grace Cathedral, and she accepts. Yuki reveals to Lindsay that she is dating Brady; Lindsay tells her that Brady is married. Brady later explains to Yuki that he is separated and his divorce is pending.

A tech consultant traces a phone call made during the delivery to Antoinette "Toni" Burgess in Taylor Creek, Oregon. Lindsay and Claire drive to the small town, where they discover Burgess leads a motorcycle gang called the Devil Girlz. With backup from the local sheriff, Lindsay enters the house, where Sandy Wilson holds the baby and threatens both Lindsay and herself with a gun. Lindsay defuses the standoff by putting down her own weapon. Sandy produces a signed contract and bank records showing Avis accepted $25,000, but Lindsay informs them the adoption is illegal because Avis is only 15 and takes the baby.

Back in San Francisco, Lindsay delivers the baby to the Richardsons at their hotel. Avis's father, Paul Richardson, reveals that Avis and Ritter have already returned from Mexico and are hiding in the bedroom. Lindsay arrests Avis for child trafficking, neglect, and obstruction of justice; Ritter is arrested for statutory rape and kidnapping.

The Martin trial takes a dramatic turn when Hoffman calls 11-year-old Caitlin Martin to the stand. She confesses to killing her father, saying he had been sexually abusing her and she had no choice. Judge LaVan interviews the child privately and finds her account convincing but suspends the trial for 60 days rather than dismissing the case.

Lindsay, still investigating the Martin case on her own time, reexamines the surveillance photo. Candace points out that the woman is clutching a cross necklace Candace never wears but Ellen always does. Facial recognition software confirms the woman is Lafferty, not Candace. Lindsay and Conklin confront Lafferty, who admits she wore Candace's chemotherapy wig and met Guzman at Dennis's direction to deliver money, which Guzman refused.

That evening, Cindy calls Quick Express for a cab. Wysocki picks her up personally and offers her a drugged drink. When Cindy fails to appear at dinner, Conklin tracks her phone signal to the Quick Express garage. Lindsay and Conklin locate Cindy in the building's subterranean levels. As Wysocki tries to flee in the cab, Conklin fires through the windshield when Wysocki accelerates toward him, killing the dispatcher. Cindy is pulled from the wreck alive; Wysocki had not yet assaulted her.

In December, a sting operation captures Guzman as he attempts to assassinate a mob boss. Under interrogation, Guzman reveals that a redheaded woman in a blond wig tried to hire him to kill Candace, not Dennis, and he refused. Cindy and Conklin confirm that Lafferty's alibi for the night of the murder is airtight, eliminating her as the shooter.

Caitlin recants her confession to her court-appointed psychiatrist, admitting her father did abuse her but that her mother fired the gun. Lindsay arrests Candace, who finally tells the truth: She came home to find Dennis leaving Caitlin's room after sexually assaulting the child. Enraged, Candace grabbed a gun and shot him, then fired outside to fabricate the intruder story and told Caitlin to shower and never speak of it. Candace pleads guilty to second-degree murder. Yuki recommends 10 years, with the first five at a minimum-security facility near the children's home; the judge approves the sentence.

Jacobi tells Lindsay that her father died of a heart attack in August, before the wedding; he did not abandon her. Brady punishes Lindsay with six weeks of night shifts for insubordination but takes no further action. The adoption of Baby Tyler by Toni and Sandy is finalized, with Avis signing away her parental rights and Ritter's rights revoked as part of a plea deal. The novel ends at a barbecue at Claire's home celebrating the 10th anniversary of Lindsay and Claire's friendship, where Lindsay quietly reveals that she and Joe are expecting a baby.