We have seen far too many examples of our cable channels giving wall to wall coverage about the latest sensationalized murder case, but only so long as the victim happens to be young, pretty, and blond. It seems that stories about pretty young girls who have everything going for them only to have their life of promise cut short  tugs at the nation's heartstrings more than all others. 

It is easy to see why media-drenched cases like this are a nightmare for the investigating jurisdiction, and in this novel author Alafair Burke gives us a behind-the-scenes look at just such a case when a striking blond college coed from Indiana gets out of her league in the chi chi nightclub scene of Manhattan and ends up as a mutilated corpse in a park. 

Alafair Burke, the daughter of author James Lee Burke, currently teaches criminal law at Hofstra Law School. An earlier job out west had allowed her to pen three books with a Portland, Oregon locale starring Samantha Kincaid. Since moving to New York, however, it only seemed right for her to start anew by introducing a different detective. Ellie Hatcher is her new literary creation, and this is the second novel in this series after the debut novel, "Dead Connection."

"Angel's Tip," named after a specialty drink at a club bar, is a solid book that has much going for it. The case is intriguing and all of the characters are well thought out with believable dialogue, normal lifestyles, and completely understandable, though problematic, relationships just like the rest of us in the real world. In short, this novel has everything that a good read needs to be very entertaining.

Best of all is the author's insight into the internecine politics of a police department in which Ellie Hatcher, already considered to be a prima donna for having solved an earlier high profile murder case, is resented by many of the other homicide detectives for having been promoted to their elite department. Solving that case, which ended up being tied to a internet dating site and a Russian identity theft ring, put her name in the limelight and forced the NYPD to promote her to homicide. 

Not that this was her first time in the news. Her father, a detective back in the Midwest, had been murdered by a serial killer known as "The College Hill Strangler" after he had pursued him for twenty years. The publicity from that case landed her in People Magazine, and Ellie solving this latest internet dating case placed her on ABC's Dateline. Now she finds herself resented as a media hog by her fellow officers.

She is too young, too pretty, and probably too smart for most of them. An unexpected combination of a well built blond with smarts who willingly places herself in a male dominated world. There are always land mines to be hit if the wrong toes are stepped on, and now there is this case where too many people have a vested interest in seeing her fail. On top of everything else, her current boyfriend happens to be a reporter who would love to have her disclose privileged information about this case. It's a lose-lose situation for Ellie, for she will surely be blamed for any leaks that do come out.

The departmental scuttlebutt is that she was to be paired with a detective known to lack ambition, but at the last minute homicide detective J.J. Rogan steps up and offers to partner with her after his own long time partner had retired to Arizona. J.J. Rogan is young, smart, hip, and black, and equally as handsome as Ellie is pretty. The two are soon referred to behind their backs as "Hotchick and Tubbs." J.J. has his own problems, for he dresses far above his pay grade. This led to suspicions that he was on the take. He had previously been investigated for this, but the truth of the matter is that a grandmother had died and left him a generous income. 

This will be a trying time for both of them, since the new partners lack the down time before investigating a case of this magnitude. Neither yet trusts the other, and Ellie worries that J.J. may have ulterior motives in selecting her as his new partner. Needless to say, operating in a media circus with the Mayor calling for updates on the progress of the investigation is not the best place to be building a solid working relationship.

Chelsea Hart, Stephanie Hyder, and Jordan McLaughlin are three close friends and college coeds on a lark in Manhattan. Chelsea is a striking blond and has the personality to match. Her stunning good looks allow them an entrée into an exclusive nightclub called Pulse. Soon Chelsea gains entrance into a private room and is seen dancing with a man who resembles Jake Gyllenhaal. As their flight back to Indiana is set to leave early the next morning, Stephanie and Jordan beg Chelsea to return to the hotel with them. After all, it is already two in the morning. In spite of their entreaties, Chelsea begs off, for this is "the best day of my life." It will also be the last day of her life.

It all looks too easy when incriminating evidence connects Jake Myers, a young and wealthy hedge fund manager, to the murder of Chelsea Hart. The case appears to be open and shut, but Ellie remembers a former homicide detective, now deceased, who had tried to connect the links between three girls who were strangled and mutilated six years before after spending the night out club hopping. Maybe this case isn't so simple after all, but Eckels does not take kindly to her digging up cold cases and possibly muddying up the evidence against the presumed perpetrator of this high profile case. Nevertheless, Ellie Hatcher, with her curious and probing mind, will not let go of these stray bits of information. 2008, HarperCollins Books, 339 pages.