THE POLICEMAN'S DAUGHTER

Author Trudy Nan Boyce, whose police procedural debut was hailed as “authentic” (New York Times Book Review) and “exceptional” (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel), returns with a stunning prequel to the Detective Sarah Alt series: the story behind the case that earned Salt her promotion to the homicide division.

At the beginning of her career, Sarah “Salt” Alt was a beat cop in Atlanta’s poorest, most violent housing project, The Homes. It is here that she meets the cast of misfits and criminals that will have a profound impact on her later cases: Man Man, the leader of the local gang on his way to better places; street dealer Lil D and his family; and Sister Connelly, old and observant, the matriarch of the neighborhood. A lone patrolwoman, Salt’s closest lifeline is her friend and colleague Pepper, on his own beat nearby. And when a murder in The Homes brings detectives to the scene, Salt draws closer to Detective Wills, initiating a romance complicated by their positions on the force.

When Salt is shot and sustains a head injury during a routine traffic stop, the resulting visions begin leading her toward answers in the case that makes her career. This is the tale of a woman who solves crimes through a combination of keen observation, grunt work, and pure gut instinct; this is the making of Detective Salt.


Trudy Nan Boyce received her PhD in community counseling before becoming a police officer for the City of Atlanta. During her career she served as a beat cop, homicide detective, senior hostage negotiator, and lieutenant. Boyce retired from the police department in 2008 and still lives in Atlanta. She is the author of Out of the Blues (Putnam, February 2016) and Old Bones (Putnam, February 2017).