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John Roméo. He's a survivor in a world "Virgil Tibbs" never imagined.
They've got murders they can't solve. They don't want John Roméo (Ro-mayo), but they sure as hell need him.

A baffled LAPD, battered by the media, struggles with unsolved deaths of wealthy, married men and their mistresses. All are caught in the act and murdered by close-range blasts from a .44 magnum. Vengeful wives? Maybe.

Solution: Call John Roméo, a cocky ex-LAPD homicide whiz, turned multi-millionaire author . Roméo has an "eye for beauty and a nose for murder.". But the hunter becomes the hunted. RomŽo may not survive this time, but if it comes to it, he'll die trying.

P.S. By the way, his name is Roméo (Ro-mayo). But you can call him Romeo, if you prefer eating steak through a straw.

The Widowmaker
'Heat Of The Night'

©2006 Gene Cartwright

A serial killer with an elaborate m.o. and macabre sense of humor is loose in LA.
But this killer, who defies the FBI profile, is unlike any the LAPD has ever encountered: The victims are prominent married men involved in adulterous affairs. They and their lovers are found murdered by close range blasts from a .44 magnum.

Even jaded, veteran homicide cops are horrified by the brutality, intrigued by the killer's consistency and baffled by the apparent amount of time spent by the killer at the post-crime scene. What's more, this killer has a penchant for 60's music, particularly Sam Cooke's 'Frankie and Johnny.' Why? The work of vengeful wives?

Perhaps. Someone wants the cops to think so. A battered police department feuding with the FBI, slams into a brick wall.

Solution:

Call John Roméo (he insists Ro-may-o). Roméo is a cocky, Harlem-born, Black, 38 year-old retired L.A.P.D. homicide whiz, turned multi-millionaire Beverly Hills author and screenwriter. Some question his name, his style, and his self-confidence that borders on cockiness, but no one questions his expertise. You either love or hate Roméo; there is no in-between. He has an eye for beauty and a nose for murder.

John's former commander, Captain C.E. 'Bear' Nicholson, realizes there's no love lost between John and his envious former comrades, but he's got no choice. John, pressed by a producer to finish rewrites and by his publisher to complete a manuscript, tries to say 'no' to the Captain.

His friend, Skeeter, a salty LAPD veteran and John's mentor, warns him to avoid the case. However, John realizes that his considerable ego and his love of a challenge will prevail. He'll have one more chance to prove he has no equal.

However, the hunter becomes the hunted. Despite his choirboy facade, Roméo's no saint. His live-in, French-Somalian fashion-model girlfriend, and his recently divorced wife, Claire, both love him deeply and dislike each other even more deeply.

Assaulted by the tabloids, he is faced with the allure of the beautiful psychologist, Dr. Diane Deauville, hired to assist him.. And now someone wants him dead, but not before trying to discredit him. In the end, neither John nor the city's power elite are prepared for what he uncovers.

John Roméo has many stories to tell. The WIDOWMAKER is just one of them.