Brenda and the team must investigate the murder of high-profile model Heather Kingsley, who dies as a result of nicotine poisoning. As Brenda investigates, she is drawn into the world of celebrity beauty, where illusion is everything, and the standard high.

Brenda must fight for justice for two Russian prostitutes murdered by the illegitimate son of a Russian mafia figure. As she does, she confronts her own prejudices, and discovers the justice for these women is scarce in a world dominated by men.

Brenda and the Priority Homicide Team investigate a sniper who is killing gang members in and around MacArthur Park. Offering assistance is an ex-Army colonel who believes the sniper to be his son. As an all-out gang war looms, Brenda tentatively accepts his assistance.

Brenda enters the high-stakes world of pharmaceutical research, when a drug trial for new anti-addiction medication lead to the death of one of the principal investigators. Nothing is quite as it seems as she investigates the high-powered president of the drug company sponsoring the trial, the seemingly easy-going psychiatrist and the teenaged participants in the study.

A judge is murdered in Griffith Park and Brenda's investigation takes an unexpected twist when her best witness, or perhaps her prime suspect, is his teenage son with autism. Challenged by the boy's behaviors, but convinced he has the clue to unraveling the case, Brenda must try to understand him in order to learn what he knows.

The murder of an adolescent girl from Mexico, found dead in the Los Angeles River, proves difficult and painful for Brenda and her team. At first, a known sex-offender seems the likely candidate, but questions arise about why the girl and her mother were brought to the US, leading the investigation in another direction.