Patricia Cornwell: Southern Cross (UK 2008)

From the Publisher:
Robbery, murder, vandalism, incompetence and not enough parking spaces - just another day in the life of a big city's police department.
Judy Hammer has accepted the challenge of Richmond, Virginia's police department to try and reverse the escalating crime statistics in the city. She brings with her Deputy Chief Virginia West and Andy Brazil, now a full-time police officer. They find a lot of things they are all too familiar with - teenage gangs, a rash of robberies at cash dispensers, street corner drug-dealing, racial tensions, too many people with too many guns and a cardiac inducing lack of parking spaces. They also meet resentment from the established police force and over-high expectations from the city's institutions. Then a computer virus crashes the police computer, freezing their screens with a design of blue fish, and the same blue fish appears on the statue of Jefferson Davis, which a graffiti artist has turned into a black basketball player and a gang called the Pikes claim it is their symbol, which also has links to the robberies. In an incredibly fast-moving police procedural Patricia Cornwell takes her readers on a roller-coaster ride of action and emotion.

Patricia Cornwell: Southern Cross. Sphere eBook, ISBN: 9780748109548 (September, 2008), £4.99.

Patricia Cornwell: Southern Cross (UK 1999)

From the Publisher:
Robbery, murder, vandalism, incompetence and not enough parking spaces - just another day in the life of a big city's police department.
Judy Hammer has accepted the challenge of Richmond, Virginia's police department to try and reverse the escalating crime statistics in the city. She brings with her Deputy Chief Virginia West and Andy Brazil, now a full-time police officer. They find a lot of things they are all too familiar with - teenage gangs, a rash of robberies at cash dispensers, street corner drug-dealing, racial tensions, too many people with too many guns and a cardiac inducing lack of parking spaces. They also meet resentment from the established police force and over-high expectations from the city's institutions. Then a computer virus crashes the police computer, freezing their screens with a design of blue fish, and the same blue fish appears on the statue of Jefferson Davis, which a graffiti artist has turned into a black basketball player and a gang called the Pikes claim it is their symbol, which also has links to the robberies. In an incredibly fast-moving police procedural Patricia Cornwell takes her readers on a roller-coaster ride of action and emotion.

Patricia Cornwell: Southern Cross. Warner Books, ISBN: 0751527130 (December, 1999), 455 p., £5.99.

Patricia Cornwell: Southern Cross (USA 1999)

From the Publisher:
Patricia Cornwell has a sixth sense about the men and women in blue. In Hornet's Nest, her page-turning novel about crime and police in Charlotte, North Carolina, Cornwell moved behind the badges of these real-life heroes to uncover flesh-and-blood characters who strode through her pages to reveal vulnerable, passionate, brave, sometimes doubting, always fascinating figures.

In Southern Cross, Cornwell takes us even closer to the personal and professional lives of big-city police, in a story of corruption, scandal, and robberies that escalate to murder. This time, her setting is Richmond, Virginia, where Charlotte Police Chief Judy Hammer has been brought by an NIJ grant to clean up the police force. Reeling from the recent death of her husband, and resented by the police force, city manager, and mayor of Richmond, Hammer is joined by her deputy chief Virginia West and rookie Andy Brazil on the most difficult assignment of her career. In the face of overwhelming public scrutiny, the trio must bring truth, order, and sanity to a city in trouble.

Patricia Cornwell: Southern Cross. Sequel to Hornet's Nest. Berkley Publishing Group, ISBN: 0425172546 (December, 1999), 382 p., $7.99.

Patricia Cornwell: Southern Cross (UK 1999)

From the Publisher:
Patricia Cornwell's new novel is another highly entertaining police procedural featuring the fast-moving adventures of Richmond's police department.

Judy Hammer has been hired with the brief to bring sanity and order to a city in escalating chaos. Aided by her Deputy, Virginia West, and Andy Brazil, now a full-time police officer, she faces the most difficult assignment of her career. Not only do the established police force resent their presence, the city's institutions have over-high expectations of the new team.

Their work to eradicate teenage gangs, prevent the robberies from cash dispensers and the infighting inside the department comes to a shuddering halt when a virus invades the police computer system. Their screens are frozen into an image of blue fish. The same blue fish also appears on the statue of Jefferson Davis which dominates the city's cemetery. The once-proud statue has been transformed by graffiti into a black basketball player with the number 12 on his jersey.

A gang called the Pikes claim it is their symbol - the same gang who are probably involved in the robberies taking place all over the city.

In Southern Cross, Patricia Cornwell brilliantly captures the character of the city as well as the quirky eccentricities of her key players.

Patricia Cornwell: Southern Cross. Little, Brown, ISBN: 0316846791 (January, 1999), 340 p., £16.99.

Patricia Cornwell: Southern Cross (USA 1999)

From the Publisher:
From the number-one New York Times bestselling author of Hornet's Nest, Patricia Cornwell, comes an all-new, page-turning novel about big-city police, in a story of corruption, scandal, and robberies that escalate to murder. This time, the setting is Richmond, Virginia, where former Charlotte police chief Judy Hammer has been brought by an NIJ grant, to clean up the police force. Reeling from the recent death of her husband and resented by the Richmond police force, city manager, and mayor, Hammer is joined by her deputy chief, Virginia West, and rookie Andy Brazil on the most difficult assignment of her career. In the face of overwhelming public scrutiny, the trio must find the link between the desecration of Confederate president Jefferson Davis's statue and the brutal murder of an elderly woman.

A testimony to the singular versatility and narrative power of one of the country's best-read storytellers.

Patricia Cornwell: Southern Cross. Sequel to Hornet's Nest. Putnam's, ISBN: 039914465X (January, 1999), 359 p., $25.95.