Dead by Dawn by Jagjit Sidhu

Twelve hours. One truth. No mercy.

Midnight. A woman's body in an alley behind a jazz bar. No ID, no phone, no purse — just a business card clutched in her cold hand. Detective Rachel Cole's own card. A woman she has never met in her life.

By dawn, Rachel will learn the truth was never an accident.

Claire Danes spent three years uncovering a decade of laundered money flowing from one of the city's most powerful investment firms straight into the pockets of senators, judges, and commissioners. She built her case piece by piece, in secret, knowing exactly how dangerous it was — and exactly who would come for her once she made her move.

She had six hours to make it public.

She didn't have six hours.

Now Rachel has less than twelve — to clear an innocent man, outrun a black car with no plates, and figure out who inside her own department can no longer be trusted, before the only proof of Claire's sacrifice disappears along with everyone who still remembers it.

Dead by Dawn is a breakneck, real-time thriller that unfolds hour by hour across a single night — where every clue costs a life, every ally might be compromised, and the truth is only as safe as the last person willing to die for it.