Book excerpt: Young, beautiful, police detective Julian Palmer is growing up. Just a few years out of the New York Police Academy, she's earning her stripes fast. Julian has solved high profile murder cases, and been promoted to Lieutenant upstate Troy, New York. But her latest case has her baffled. She's tracking the killer of a respected husband and father. With no suspects, a family hungry for answers, and the press breathing down her neck, Julian is desperate and in over her head. That's when Julian gets an unlikely visitor: her one time mentor and the first man she arrested for murder, former police Chief Winston "The Bear" Edwards. Once famed for his physical immensity and unmatched detective skills, Edwards is now a shadow of his former self. He's managed to escape a life in prison, but emerged a beaten man with no family and nowhere to turn. The only thing he has left is his brilliant police mind. Now the one time mentor has returned to his former student, looking for a shot at redemption, and a reason for living. Despite Julian's mistrust and fear of Edwards, the young Lieutenant knows he's still a gifted detective and cautiously brings him in on this seemingly unsolvable case. Working side by side with a man who once tried to kill her, Julian gets drawn deep into the murder investigation-and into the mind of the murder victim's young daughter. The girl forces Julian to confront once again the bizarre events surrounding the decade old murder of her own father. Taut, edgy and utterly unpredictable, The Heat of Lies will shock and scare you and keep you turning the pages long into the night. Jonathan Stone is widely praised as one of today's top thriller writers. Stone knows the importance of character, the significance of nuance, and folly of cliché. This is his second, and most riveting novel.