Carol O'Connell

Kathleen Mallory (she answers only to Mallory) was brought up by an NYPD inspector and his wife after he found her wandering the streets of New York.  Quirky, brilliant, and beautiful, she is now a cop who gives new meaning to the term borderline sociopath.  You either hate Mallory or you love her.  I love her.  You MUST start with Mallory's Oracle, the first book in this series, and absolutely read them in order.  Well, you can skip the second one (The Man Who Cast Two Shadows) unless you're really into magic [sorry, Carol].  Killing Critics is next and is hilariously funny in places.  Then comes Stone Angel when you find out where Mallory came from and how she ended up wandering the streets of New York alone.  Once you get past this point, you could probably read them out of order without ruining anything.  Her new book, Crime School, is well worth the long wait.

Carol has also written a stand alone (that's a book not in an author's regular series) titled Judas Child.  The term Judas Child means a child who is kidnapped to lure the child the kidnapper really wants. I 'm not usually a fan of "children in jeopardy" books, but this one is an exception.  The chapters alternate between the people trying to find the children and the children trying to outwit the kidnapper.  They are not helplessly hovering in fear.  The end is a shocker, though.  I actually yelled out loud, then paced the floor for half an hour muttering to myself.

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