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The Erin O'Reilly Mysteries #26
Headshot
FREE BONUS STORY - This edition includes A Sarah Levine StorySome answers only lead to more questions
Detective Erin O’Reilly returns to New York from a long vacation with a fiancé, a suntan, and an eagerness to get back to work. Her dangerous undercover assignment is done, and she hopes to concentrate on repairing the damage caused by the O’Malley gang. The first call she gets seems simple enough; an apparent suicide in a Hell’s Kitchen bar.
But nothing is ever easy in Major Crimes. The dead man is a police officer, a former colleague of Erin’s Internal Affairs friend Kira Jones. William Ward had a reputation as a good cop, but as Erin has learned, reputations don’t tell the whole story. Erin, Kira, Vic, and Erin's K-9 Rolf try to unravel the mystery of Ward’s final hours, only to find the dead cop has laid out a fiendish series of puzzles. Are they a disturbed man’s sick joke, or is Ward sending them a message—a trail of clues pointing to an enemy lurking in the NYPD itself?
Erin and her friends rack their brains for the answers that drove a policeman to put a bullet through his own head. The clock is ticking, and Ward’s life isn’t the only one in jeopardy. On the street, you’re always one bad choice and one bullet from death.
BONUS - A Sarah Levine Story
Dying can be contagious
The dead speak to Dr. Sarah Levine from the autopsy table, but they don’t usually rise off the slab to kill the living. When Levine’s fiancé calls her into a hospital morgue for a late-night consultation, the last thing she’s expecting is a walking corpse. A nurse has been brutally murdered and the evidence points to a recently-deceased man as the only possible culprit. Though the literature holds no examples of bloodthirsty zombies, there’s a first time for everything.
Levine is on her own, trying to conjure up the truth from a cocktail of old folklore, dangerous chemicals, and her encyclopedic knowledge of death. While she prowls the deserted morgue, New York’s best Medical Examiner slowly comes to realize someone—or something—may be hunting her.
Detective Erin O’Reilly returns to New York from a long vacation with a fiancé, a suntan, and an eagerness to get back to work. Her dangerous undercover assignment is done, and she hopes to concentrate on repairing the damage caused by the O’Malley gang. The first call she gets seems simple enough; an apparent suicide in a Hell’s Kitchen bar.
But nothing is ever easy in Major Crimes. The dead man is a police officer, a former colleague of Erin’s Internal Affairs friend Kira Jones. William Ward had a reputation as a good cop, but as Erin has learned, reputations don’t tell the whole story. Erin, Kira, Vic, and Erin's K-9 Rolf try to unravel the mystery of Ward’s final hours, only to find the dead cop has laid out a fiendish series of puzzles. Are they a disturbed man’s sick joke, or is Ward sending them a message—a trail of clues pointing to an enemy lurking in the NYPD itself?
Erin and her friends rack their brains for the answers that drove a policeman to put a bullet through his own head. The clock is ticking, and Ward’s life isn’t the only one in jeopardy. On the street, you’re always one bad choice and one bullet from death.
BONUS - A Sarah Levine Story
Dying can be contagious
The dead speak to Dr. Sarah Levine from the autopsy table, but they don’t usually rise off the slab to kill the living. When Levine’s fiancé calls her into a hospital morgue for a late-night consultation, the last thing she’s expecting is a walking corpse. A nurse has been brutally murdered and the evidence points to a recently-deceased man as the only possible culprit. Though the literature holds no examples of bloodthirsty zombies, there’s a first time for everything.
Levine is on her own, trying to conjure up the truth from a cocktail of old folklore, dangerous chemicals, and her encyclopedic knowledge of death. While she prowls the deserted morgue, New York’s best Medical Examiner slowly comes to realize someone—or something—may be hunting her.
315 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 16, 2024
100 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
Steven Henry
35 books80 followersSteven Henry is the USA Today bestselling author of the Erin O’Reilly mysteries and the Clarion Chronicles.
Steven learned how to read almost before he learned how to walk. Ever since he began reading stories, he wanted to put his own on the page. He lives a very quiet and ordinary life in Minnesota with his wife and dog.
Steven learned how to read almost before he learned how to walk. Ever since he began reading stories, he wanted to put his own on the page. He lives a very quiet and ordinary life in Minnesota with his wife and dog.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 6, 2025
Erin Grieves the Death of One Good Cop!
"Headshot" is Book 26 of The Erin O'Reilly Mysteries, written by Steven Henry. This is one of my favorite series', and when the very last book of this series is written, I will desperately miss the characters - ALL of them, whether human or animal. While I love this series, I am extremely upset by what happened in this book. This episode has Erin, Vic, Kira and others of the NYPD searching for answers as to why one supposedly good cop ate the barrel of his police revolver. However, before he killed himself, he left a series of puzzle clues throughout Hell's Kitchen as to why he did this to himself. Why would a man who had a loving wife and little boy kill himself? We find out that there are a lot of bad cops, but, in particular, one really bad member of the New York Police Department, who is the root cause of this suicide. Then, when another good cop, a friend of Erin's, winds up dead from an apparent suicide, Erin, Vic, and many others lose all sense of by-the-book police procedure. One bad egg in the NYPD will have to be brought to justice before all the good cops can come to terms with the good cop's murder. Even Rolf, our German Shepherd Dog K-9 is affected by this death, and all he wants is to bite the bad guy that did this heinous crime. I gave this book 5 big fat stars, as I gave every other book in this series. I know that there have to be murders in a murder mystery, but for the life of me, I cannot understand why the murder of this one really good cop, Erin's friend, had to be that murder victim. It just seemed so pointless.
"Headshot" is Book 26 of The Erin O'Reilly Mysteries, written by Steven Henry. This is one of my favorite series', and when the very last book of this series is written, I will desperately miss the characters - ALL of them, whether human or animal. While I love this series, I am extremely upset by what happened in this book. This episode has Erin, Vic, Kira and others of the NYPD searching for answers as to why one supposedly good cop ate the barrel of his police revolver. However, before he killed himself, he left a series of puzzle clues throughout Hell's Kitchen as to why he did this to himself. Why would a man who had a loving wife and little boy kill himself? We find out that there are a lot of bad cops, but, in particular, one really bad member of the New York Police Department, who is the root cause of this suicide. Then, when another good cop, a friend of Erin's, winds up dead from an apparent suicide, Erin, Vic, and many others lose all sense of by-the-book police procedure. One bad egg in the NYPD will have to be brought to justice before all the good cops can come to terms with the good cop's murder. Even Rolf, our German Shepherd Dog K-9 is affected by this death, and all he wants is to bite the bad guy that did this heinous crime. I gave this book 5 big fat stars, as I gave every other book in this series. I know that there have to be murders in a murder mystery, but for the life of me, I cannot understand why the murder of this one really good cop, Erin's friend, had to be that murder victim. It just seemed so pointless.
December 19, 2024
Another stellar novel by Steven Henry. He’s very inclusive in this and other books to give us a broader knowledge of all the personalities. I never thought Vic would settle down but he has in the most loving and protective way for his family and the people he works with. I’m getting baby vibes from another one of the characters in this book.
Thank you also for including Zombie! Will this become another book? You left me wanting to read more of Dr Sarah Levine.
Steven Henry, my favorite author who never disappoints!
Thank you also for including Zombie! Will this become another book? You left me wanting to read more of Dr Sarah Levine.
Steven Henry, my favorite author who never disappoints!
December 17, 2024
great read. too short tho
Great read. Great character development. Great detail. I love this series! I do wish they were longer. Yes, you wrap everything up, but I’m never ready!!
Great read. Great character development. Great detail. I love this series! I do wish they were longer. Yes, you wrap everything up, but I’m never ready!!
December 21, 2024
Another great read. I am so glad I picked up the other books after getting one free. Looking forward to more great reading in the future.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews