Jeffery Deaver

In her latest thriller, Kathryn Dance, an agent with the CBI, finds herself suspended from duty when an interrogation goes bad in a horrific way. She’s busted down to the Civil Division of CBI and given the boring assignment of checking permits after a stampede in a local roadhouse results in several deaths and a number of injuries. Dance soon learns, however, that the panic was intentional—a classic case of someone yelling fire in a crowded venue—and unofficially begins to investigate.