Special Agent Drew Cady is working part-time at the FBI’s Medicare Fraud Strike Force in Minneapolis when he’s asked to investigate a murder in which a young woman’s body has washed ashore on Lake Superior. The police are asking for help because the woman’s blood was drained from her body and replaced with embalming fluid.
Cady is barely into what is being called the “Lookalikes” case when Special Agent Elizabeth Preston calls to tell him their previous boss, Assistant Director Roland Jund, has killed an intruder in his home. Cady flies to D.C. to meet with A.D. Jund. As Jund is describing details of the incident, Cady receives a call telling him the intruder has been identified as another FBI Agent.
The only clue to solving Jund’s case appears to be a notation on his calendar titled “Lynchpin.” Cady and Preston only know the notation references top secret meetings about a Russian spy, but their investigation is being stonewalled by FBI and CIA secrets.
While Cady is in D.C. he feels obligated to investigate the Lookalikes case. Searching the FBI database, he discovers three missing girls with identical matching descriptions of the Lookalikes murder victim. When another body washes up on Lake Superior’s shore, Cady flies to Minneapolis to find the killer even as A.D. June is implicated as the Lynchpin.
Torn between his two cases, Cady realizes he may be in over his head and that he may have put the person closest to him in grave danger.
“The Lynchpin” characters are realistic with distinctive speech patterns. The plot moves quickly, containing enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing until the end. Those who like their protagonists flawed will like Cady, who is tough, but caring, and struggling to have a solid relationship with his fiancee.
