The 23rd Midnight

This installment in the Women's Murder Club series follows Sergeant Lindsay Boxer of the San Francisco Police Department Homicide division as she investigates a serial killer who models his crimes after those of an imprisoned murderer. The Women's Murder Club is a group of four friends who collaborate on cases: Lindsay; crime reporter Cindy Thomas; prosecutor Yuki Castellano; and Chief Medical Examiner Claire Washburn.

The novel opens on a Monday morning. A man operating under the alias "Blackout" waits in a gray Ford sedan near Macondray Lane in San Francisco's Russian Hill neighborhood. Wearing all black and recording through video glasses, he lures Catherine Fleet, a 25-year-old mother carrying her infant daughter Josephina, by faking a fall on a staircase. He pepper-sprays Catherine's eyes, strangles her, and smothers the baby. When an elderly jogger named Jacob Johnston photographs the scene and attempts to call 911, Blackout kills him too. He later films a ceremony for the bodies set to classical music, dedicating the work to his mentor, Evan Burke, a serial killer imprisoned at San Quentin State Prison.

The story jumps back two days. Cindy Thomas, a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle and fiancée of Homicide Inspector Rich Conklin, is launching her book tour for You Never Knew Me, her authorized biography of Burke. Months of immersive prison interviews and access to Burke's scrapbooks of murder souvenirs have left Cindy with post-traumatic stress. At her first event at Book Passage bookstore in Corte Madera, an audience member named Ralph Hammer heckles her for profiting from Burke's story. That evening, after a group dinner, Brady, Lindsay's commanding officer and Yuki's husband, reports a man found dead near the bookstore. Lindsay and Rich find Hammer dead in his car, killed by a combination of stun gun, garrote, and suppressed gunshots. A copy of Cindy's book is in the back seat. Lindsay's husband, Joe Molinari, a former FBI behavioral analyst, speculates the killer may have been at the bookstore.

The next day, Lindsay receives an email from Blackout containing video of Hammer's murder filmed through video glasses. Blackout addresses Lindsay directly at the end. Claire then shows Lindsay Johnston's body at the morgue, which bears the same stun-gun burns and gunshot wounds, linking the cases. Before Lindsay can brief Brady, he arrives with urgent news: A woman and infant have washed up on Baker Beach, echoing the earlier Burke case in which Burke's daughter-in-law and granddaughter were found dead on nearby beaches. Missing Persons identifies the victims as Catherine and Josie Fleet. Claire determines Catherine was strangled and Josephina smothered. Brad Fleet, Catherine's husband, is cooperative and quickly cleared through an alibi at his advertising firm.

Running parallel to the Blackout investigation, Yuki prosecutes Lewis Sullivan for the attempted murder of his wife Barbara. Police witnesses describe finding Barbara chained to a laundry-room sink with dozens of knife wounds, broken bones, and a fractured skull, all injuries sustained over 24 hours of torture. Barbara testifies from a wheelchair, identifying Sullivan through fragmented memories caused by brain damage. Sullivan takes the stand against counsel's advice, claiming self-defense, but Yuki dismantles his claims by emphasizing that he assembled weapons in advance and took their children to lunch rather than calling an ambulance.

Meanwhile, Blackout's killings follow Cindy's book tour. After her Pasadena appearance, an unrelated jogger named Beth Welky is found dead near the venue. Blackout sends Lindsay the murder video, dedicated to Burke. Before her Las Vegas event, Cindy finds a note from Burke warning he is writing his own book and the ending involves her. In Vegas, Blackout kills a college student named Michael Brill and sends Lindsay a third video. Brady assembles a dedicated task force and visits Burke at San Quentin with Lindsay, but Burke gives them nothing useful.

Days later, Cindy vanishes. Blackout sends video of himself dragging a bound Cindy across a warehouse floor, ordering her to talk about Burke to stay alive. In a subsequent video, he reveals his unmasked face and posts a YouTube demand: Release Burke and he will reveal Cindy's location. FBI agents join the task force. A second visit to Burke yields only taunts; he reveals knowledge of what Cindy was wearing when kidnapped but refuses to disclose her location.

That same week, Blackout kills Barbara Sullivan in her bed, slashing her throat and writing "I love you" in blood on the bedroom wall, signed "Blackout." In court, the jury finds Lewis Sullivan guilty on all counts. The judge sentences him to life but does not exclude the possibility of parole.

The breakthrough comes from Marion Witmar, who calls the tip line and identifies Blackout as her ex-boyfriend Bryan Catton, describing him as brilliant and violent. Catton previously worked at a bookstore called Brooks's Books before enlisting in the Marines. The team raids his last known address in Haight-Ashbury, finding furniture from Blackout's videos, receipts for video glasses and gloves, and victim clippings, but no sign of Cindy. Driving back, Rich spots the defunct Brooks's Books. A gray Ford with fraudulent plates is parked in the rear lot, and Lindsay recognizes the transom window from the warehouse video. Brady establishes a perimeter with SWAT. After a tactical search, Catton escapes through a basement exit, but Rich intercepts him. When Catton pulls a gun, Rich shoots him in the forearm, and Catton is arrested. Search-and-rescue dogs locate Cindy in a garment bag inside a nearby dumpster, barely breathing. She is rushed to the hospital.

Beneath the bookstore, crime scene investigator Alvarez discovers Catton's hidden lair: an underground flat with a screen displaying a grid of past and planned kills, including surveillance photos of Lindsay, her family, and every member of the Women's Murder Club. Lindsay realizes she was intended to be his final target. A locked fireproof box contains letters between Catton, who posed as Burke's attorney, and Burke. The correspondence proves Burke coached Catton on target selection, specifically suggesting a dark-haired woman with a redheaded baby to mirror his own victims, and directed him to kill Cindy and Lindsay for a dramatic finale. Catton's war journal describes his service as a helicopter door gunner in Afghanistan, where he repeatedly disobeyed orders to stop firing, and records his hope of one day surpassing Burke's body count.

Cindy recovers at home with Rich and privately asks Lindsay to be her maid of honor. Catton is arraigned on seven counts of murder plus abduction and attempted murder. Brady takes Lindsay to San Quentin, where they present Burke with the letters proving his conspiracy. Burke erupts but cannot deny his handwriting, and guards strip his cell of every negotiated comfort. Lindsay continues therapy, processing the trauma but affirming her commitment to policing. Joe has received a full-time FBI job offer, and the couple must figure out how to balance their careers with raising their daughter Julie. Riding home from San Quentin, Lindsay tells Brady, "This is a good day to be a cop."