eBook Special Feature: Includes a chapter excerpt from 1ST TO DIE.Detective Lindsay Boxer and Assistant District Attorney Jill Bernhardt are enjoying a quiet afternoon in San Francisco when a townhouse across the street explodes in flames. A sinister note signed "August Spies" is found at the scene of the disaster, and the body of an infant who was asleep in the house at the time of the explosion cannot be found. Soon a wave of violent incidents, all with links to political terrorism and involving "August Spies," sweeps through the city. An upcoming economic summit of the world's most powerful nations will surely be a target. And it's up to the Women's Murder Club to get to the bottom of the violence before it's too late.
Delivering the breakneck pace and never-saw-it-coming plot twists that have made James Patterson the most addictive writer at work today, 3RD DEGREE is another searing and unforgettable thriller from the nation's #1 bestselling suspense writer.

Four women--four friends--share a determination to stop a killer who has been stalking newlyweds in San Francisco. Each one holds a piece of the puzzle: Lindsay Boxer is a homicide inspector in the San Francisco Police Department, Claire Washburn is a medical examiner, Jill Bernhardt is an assistant D.A., and Cindy Thomas just started working the crime desk of the San Francisco Chronicle. But the usual procedures aren't bringing them any closer to stopping the killings. So these women form a Women's Murder Club to collaborate outside the box and pursue the case by sidestepping their bosses and giving each other a hand. The four women develop intense bonds as they pursue a killer whose crimes have stunned an entire city. Working together, they track down the most terrifying and unexpected killer they have ever encountered--before a shocking conclusion in which everything they knew turns out to be devastatingly wrong. Full of the breathtaking drama and unforgettable emotions for which James Patterson is famous, 1st to Die is the start of a blazingly fast-paced and sensationally entertaining new series of crime thrillers.

When a little girl is shot on the steps of a San Francisco church, Detective Lindsay Boxer knows it's time to reconvene the Women's Murder Club. Working with Chronicle reporter Cindy Thomas, assistant D.A. Jill Bernhardt, and medical examiner Claire Washburn, Lindsay tracks a mystifying killer who soon turns his pursuers into his victims. The unorthodox allegiances of the Women's Murder Club lead them to suspect the unexpected-the killer may be an ex-cop. But nothing could prepare them for the demented logic behind his choice of victims.