#New York City

She wore a gown of brown to Truman Capote’s Black and White ball, while her twin sister danced with the devil in Little Italy. Lieutenant Gene Beckman thought he had seen everything but this Manhattan murder mystery had everybody on edge, including the Mafia and the Teamsters union. Even the president was involved. He wanted to be re-elected. Michael Penn was regarded as a hack journalist, until he won the coveted Wurlitzer Prize for his investigation into the music industry. Now he has another story to tell, and Hollywood is knocking on his door.

Jackie Martin is a woman whose intelligence and ambition have earned her a coveted position as a judge on the Manhattan Family Court-and left her lonely at age 39. When she meets Lou Greenberg, Jackie thinks she's finally found someone who will accept her exactly as she is. But when Lou's own issues, including an unresolved yearning for his ex-wife, make him bolt without explanation, Jackie must finally put herself under the same microscope as the people she judges.