The Beast (Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus Series #21)

When reclusive inventor, Hobart Penny, is found dead in his apartment, the cops think his pet—an adult female tiger—attacked the elderly billionaire. But it soon becomes clear that the beast that killed him is all too human.

Digging into the victim's life, LAPD Lieutenant Peter Decker and his colleagues, Detectives Marge Dunn and Scott Oliver, discover that Penny was an exceptionally peculiar man with exotic tastes, including kinky sex with call girls.

Following a trail of clues that leads from a wildlife sanctuary in the San Bernardino Mountains to the wild nightlife of Las Vegas, the detectives are left juggling too many suspects and too few answers. To crack a case involving the two most primal instincts—sex and murder—Decker must turn to a man with expert knowledge of both: Chris Donatti, the dangerous man who is also the father of Decker's foster son, Gabriel Whitman.

As their work and intimate worlds collide, family crises and work-related responsibilities might prove too much for Decker's career. When all these shocking truths come out, exactly how will Decker and his wife, Rina, survive?