Hot Blooded

Hot Blooded is a thriller that opens a series, set in New Orleans. A prostitute is found strangled in a run-down hotel room in the French Quarter. Miles away, in a sprawling plantation house on Lake Ponchartrain, Dr. Samantha Leeds, a late-night radio host, takes a threatening crank call. Nobody would think to connect the two events.

More bodies turn up, and the caller keeps contacting Samantha. Another voice joins him, claiming to be a woman from her past who has been dead for years. Detective Rick Bentz believes the serial killer on the streets is someone close to Samantha, so she dares not trust anyone. That includes Ty Wheeler, her seductive new neighbor, who seems to know more about her than a stranger should.

Someone has uncovered Samantha's darkest secret and believes lives must be given up to pay for her sins. So far the victims have been strangers. As the killer grows bolder, Samantha begins to wonder whether she will be next.

The author is Lisa Jackson, who also wrote Afraid to Die.