title: Bleeding Out: A Mystery
author:  Baxter Clare 
description: Fans of police procedurals and the grittier murder mysteries will welcome Baxter Clare's debut novel, in which a hardened female police lieutenant, L.A. Franco, known as "Frank," tries to catch a serial rapist and murderer while stoically nursing her grief over the shooting death of her lover Maggie. Having been assigned right out of the academy to Figueroa, the LAPD's roughest district, at 39, Frank's "mastery of the mean streets was no longer a question, either for herself, her colleagues, or the <I>veteranos</I> and OGs within the division." As a (closeted) lesbian and a legendary hard-ass, Frank isn't the most popular of cops, but she earns the grudging admiration of almost everyone she works with. In a film, she would be played by Humphrey Bogart, and speak out of the side of her mouth. Despite this stereotypical characterization, and some tedious, slangy dialogue between cops that periodically interrupts the flow of the story, <I>Bleeding Out</I> is fairly engrossing. Frank may not be new, but she's effectively drawn, and her exploits on the trail of the killer would enliven a beach vacation or a transatlantic flight. <I>--Regina Marler</I>
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  v1.0
  
  May 2007
  
   **River Lady**
  
   **Jude Deveraux**
  
  When they'd caught their breath, they looked at each other.
  
  "You weren't hurt, were you?" Leah asked.
  
  "A bloody side, but not bad," Wesley replied.
  
  She moved closer to him, grabbing the buttons of his shirt.
  
  "You sure are eager to get my clothes off, woman." He grinned down at her.
  "You are a very pretty young woman, Leah," he whispered.
  
  The air was filled with the charges between them, dancing lights drawing them
  together. Leah's fingers moved from the cuts on Wes's side to his dark, warm
  skin, upward to the dark mass of curling hair on his chest. She couldn't move
  away when his lips came near hers.
  
  "We are still married, you know," he murmured&hellip;
  
   **contents**
  
  [Chapter 1](chapter_1)
  
  [Chapter 16](chapter_16)
  
  [Chapter 2](chapter_2)
  
  [Chapter 17](chapter_17)
  
  [Ch