2-3-4 Challenge Book Discussions #1 discussion

Renée Ballard works the night shift in Hollywood, beginning many investigations but finishing none as each morning she turns her cases over to day shift detectives. A once up-and-coming detective, she's been given this beat as punishment after filing a sexual harassment complaint against a supervisor.

But one night she catches two cases she doesn't want to part with: the brutal beating of a prostitute left for dead in a parking lot and the killing of a young woman in a nightclub shooting. Ballard is determined not to give up at dawn. Against orders and her own partner's wishes, she works both cases by day while maintaining her shift by night. As the cases entwine they pull her closer to her own demons and the reason she won't give up her job no matter what the department throws at her.

Settings
Los Angeles, California
Ventura, California

44 Chapters

Character List
(view spoiler)[
Renée Ballard: LAPD detective working the night shift at Hollywood Division, known as the late show. Her partner is Jenkins.
John Jenkins: LAPD detective working the night shift at Hollywood Division, known as the late show. He’s Renée’s partner.
Larry Gandle: Captain over the RHD.
Munro: Lieutenant and watch commander. He ran patrol during the late show.
Terry McAdams: Ballard’s direct supervisor, lieutenant and commander of the day side detective bureau.
Robert Olivas: Lieutenant heading up one of the Homicide Special teams in the Robbery-Homicide Division (RHD). He’s responsible for Ballard being on night shift.
Ken Chastain: RHD homicide detective and Ballard’s former partner. His father was John Chastain, the IAD detective who was killed by a rioting mob following the death of a civil rights leader. Turns out he had killed the man but it was covered up after he was killed.
Pete Mendez: Vice detective.
Jorge Fernandez: Vice detective who arrested Trent.
Corey Steadman: Detective in RHD.
Jerry Rudolph: Detective in RHD. He’s Corey’s partner.
Rogers Carr: Detective in the Major Crimes Unit.
Quinton (Quick) Kennedy: Carr’s partner.
Joseph Feltzer: Lieutenant in the Force Investigation Division (FID).
John Welborne: ATF agent.
Melvin (Smitty) Smith: Senior patrol officer.
Taylor: Patrol officer, Smitty’s partner.
John Stanley: Senior lead patrol officer.
Jacob Ross: Patrol officer, John Stanley’s partner.
Sasso: Patrol officer near Trent’s home.
Polly Stanfield: Supervisor in the Latent Print Unit.
Danitra Lewis: Records and property clerk for the Hollywood Division.
Rob Compton: State parole officer assigned to the Hollywood Division.
Carmen Hinojos: Director of the Behavioral Science Unit.
Jayalalithaa (Dr. J.) Panneerselvam: Coroner.
Marion Tuttle: Senior nurse at the Rape Treatment Center (RTC).
Jerry Castor: Reporter for the L.A. Times.
Eric Higgs: Chemistry professor at the University of California at Irvine.
Julia (Tutu) Ballard: Renée’s grandmother.
Shelby Chastain: Ken’s wife.
Ramona Ramone: aka Ramón Gutierrez. Transgender prostitute and assault victim. Ballard is investigating her case.
Leslie Lantana: Woman who reported her purse stolen from her home.
Cynthia Haddel: Waitress at Dancers, a nightclub, where she was murdered along with four others.
Marcus Wilbanks: Bouncer at Dancers who was killed in the shootout.
Cordell Abbott: One of the three men in the booth at Dancers who was killed in the shootout. He was a 39-year old black man and bookie with a criminal history.
Gordon Fabian: One of the three men in the booth at Dancers who was killed in the shootout. He was a 52-year old white man with a long history of drug-related arrests. He was waiting for an upcoming trial in federal court for a kilo of cocaine possession.
Gino Santangelo: One of the three men in the booth at Dancers who was killed in the shootout. He was a 39-year old white man with a violent crimes record.
Thomas Trent: Car salesman working at an Audi dealership. He was once arrested possessing brass knuckles.
Beatrice Beaupre: aka Shady Sadie. Thomas’s ex-wife. She’s an S&M film producer, director and cinematographer.
Alexander (Zander) Speights: Patron at Dancers who accidentally snapped a picture of the shooter while he was taking a selfie.
Matthew (Metro) Robison: Zander’s friend who was with him at Dancers.
Alicia: Metro’s girlfriend.
Dean Towson: Gordon Fabian’s attorney. He’s a former deputy DA, working in J-SID (Justice System Integrity Division), the DA’s watchdog unit.
Aaron Hayes: Beach lifeguard.
Denver: Homeless man.
Stormy: Homeless man who occupied Ramona’s camper when she disappeared.
Christopher Nettles: Credit card thief.
Sarah: Ballard’s dogsitter.
Lola: Renée’s dog.
(hide spoiler)]

Spoiler Info
(view spoiler)[
Chastain gets murdered in his garage.

Ballard is abducted from her Grandmother’s garage by Trent and held in his house. When he finds the key to his house in her pocket, he stops torturing her to go find his ex-wife. By the time he returns with Beatrice, Ballard has freed herself, created a weapon from the chair spoke and used a broom to take him down. She then stabbed him three times in the abdomen and he bled out.

Carr was the shooter at the nightclub and also killed Chastain. Chastain had put Metro in a safe house once he called and identified Carr as the shooter (he’d seen the news coverage of the Major Crimes sting the next day and recognized Carr from the nightclub). (hide spoiler)]