4.5 stars.

All Day and a Night by Alafair Burke is another intricately plotted and very intriguing mystery starring NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher. In this outing, Ellie and her partner J.J. Rogan are selected by ADA Max Donovan to take a fresh look at a current murder investigation that matches the same MO as a series of murders twenty years earlier. Anthony Amaro confessed to one those killings and is currently serving a life sentence with no change of parole. When the DA's office decides to take a second look at the earlier cases, DNA evidence from one of the victims exonerates Amaro and Ellie and Rogan are under pressure to find evidence that will keep the convicted killer behind bars.

An added complication to Ellie and Rogan's investigation is Amaro's overzealous defense attorney's appeal of his conviction. A fiery TV personality and wrongful conviction advocate, Linda Moreland hires Carrie Blank to help find the evidence that will set Amaro free. Carrie is the sister of one of his alleged victims, and she is determined to discover who is responsible for her sister's murder. At first confident that Amaro is indeed innocent, Carrie is soon plagued by doubts and begins to wonder what Moreland's true motive is for wanting her on the team.

Ellie and Rogan are reluctant participants in the investigation but they are soon immersed in both the new and old cases. Shoddy police work, a possibly coerced confession and unreliable eye witnesses are just a few of the problems they encounter with the earlier investigation. However a new lead in the present murder points to possible link between the victim and the earlier deaths. Ellie and Rogan's search for answers takes them to the small town where the killings began and they uncover a long buried secret that someone will go to any lengths to keep hidden.

Since All Day and a Night is the fifth book in the series, the characters continue to grow and the various relationships continue to strengthen and evolve. Ellie's rougher edges are beginning to smooth a bit but she still retains many of the qualities that make her such a unique and likeable protagonist. She remains deeply committed to finding justice for the victims whose deaths she investigates. Ellie tries to maintain an emotional distance from love interest Max, but she takes steps to deepen her commitment to their relationship. She and Rogan have a great working relationship and their close friendship is made stronger by Rogan's astute observations that provide some much needed insight into her personal life.

The overall plot is complex but the various story arcs are relatively easy to follow. The chapters alternate between Ellie and Carrie's points of view, but these shifts in perspective are clearly marked. There are numerous plot twists that make solving the cases difficult and while I had a pretty good idea what the investigations would reveal, I never lost interest in the overall story and I was pleasantly surprised by the ultimate resolution of the different storylines.

All Day and a Night is a well-written a novel with a multi-faceted cast of characters. The story is engaging and fast-paced and the investigation is quite fascinating. Old and new fans of Alafair Burke are sure to enjoy this latest addition to the Ellie Hatcher series. ( )

I really hesitated over the fourth star but in the end decided it was about a 3.7 so I rounded up. Clever mixture of legal and police procedural which kept making me turn the page. Nominal character for the series is interesting and, fortunately, things happen in her cases, not to her, which always adds to (or avoids detracting from my enjoyment. I've only read on of Alafair Burke's books before, which I did not really enjoy, which was a disappointment given her genes, so this came as a pleasant surprise and one which I will follow up on. ( )

Didn't want to put it down. ( )

I HATE HATE HATE reading on Overdrive but sometimes you do what you have to w/r/t the 5th book in a series you're hooked out. Overdrive has managed to be a worse reading experience than even the Nook os app. I didn't think that was possible.

Anyway, read enough of this in the last two days to class it a 2016 read-more than 80% and as usual with the Ellie series, I'm a fan. I'm not a fan of Max though and hope we see less of him in future books. I liked that Burke took the focus away from Colby and brought it to upstate NY - I don't know Utica well but I can identify with some of it. Overall, a very good read. I loved the Harry Bosch cameo.

I figured out way earlier than JJ & Ellie did about Donna, but I had the wrong who. I loved it when Burke also had Ellie suspecting the wrong who. I felt validated. Was very confused though when she had Carrie mention not knowing her murderer when she survived. So odd ( )

NYC detective and her partner are tasked to take a fresh look at a conviction from 20 years earlier when there is a new murder that seems to fit into the pattern used by the killer. The convicted man tries to challenge his conviction using a celebrity lawyer.
I don't remember where I found Burke's name, and decided to try her out. But, I found this book to be rather uninteresting overall and do not plan to read any more of her work. ( )