Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson, recently relocated to Los Angeles from Atlanta, joins and heads LAPD's newest team formed to deal with high-profile murders. Recruited by her new boss, Assistant Chief Will Pope, Brenda has difficulty being accepted by her resentful staff. In her first case, they investigate the murder of a woman found in the home of Dr. Eliot Collier, a mathematician who has been missing for two weeks. Oddly, only the victim's fingerprints can be found in Collier's house. With only Chief Pope and an unexpected old friend (FBI agent Fritz Howard) in her corner, Brenda demonstrates superior interrogation techniques miles ahead of everyone when it comes to solving complex cases. Written by garykmcd / revised by statmanjeff

Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson investigates the death of model Heather Kingsley, found dead in the shower of her home. While her team is pretty well prepared to write it off as an accident, Brenda finds it just a tad too convenient that the woman died on the only day of the week when none of her servants were home, also noticing a shaving nick on the dead woman's leg with no razor to be found. She learns that Dean Kingsley, Heather's actor husband who was supposedly alone on his sailboat when all this happened, is a serial womanizer always promising his girlfriends marriage, only to break it off saying he can't afford the costs incurred under a pre-nuptial agreement. As Brenda pushes forward, Assistant Chief Pope knows only too well the dangers of celebrity murder investigations and wants her to go slowly. She finds herself working alone with no one at the office to support her - well, save for one willing to step forward and help her save face. Written by garykmcd / revised by statmanjeff

Deputy Chief Johnson's investigation into the murder of a teenage prostitute brings her into contact with a number of LA's VIPs. She's most interested, however, in the dead girl's boyfriend, Nikolai Koslov, the son of a local Russian mobster and heroin dealer. Koslov set the dead girl up in a beautiful house, but Brenda isn't convinced all is normal. She hits a formidable roadblock with Koslov's alibi for the night the girl was murdered: he was being questioned by the FBI. Fritz confirms he was there, and it's clear that the younger Koslov is informing on his father's operation, which the FBI has no intention of endangering with an investigation into a prostitute's murder. Brenda is appalled by the attitude of the men around her, but when she discovers another prostitute's murder from some months before with all the earmarks of the most recent case, she fears she has a budding serial killer on her hands about to escape justice. Written by garykmcd / edited by statmanjeff

Deputy Chief Johnson and her team investigate the latest in what appears to be a gang related killing with two rival gangs on the verge of a major war. At the site, she is approached by D.B. Walker, a retired Marine Corps Colonel, who tells her he knows the identity of the killer: his own son. He thought the young man, also an ex-marine, had taken his own life after his wife was killed by a stray bullet in a gang-related shooting. Walker is now convinced that his son is seeking revenge against the gang-bangers involved in the shooting. Brenda agrees to work with him, but it soon becomes apparent that he has his own agenda; and, after a while, she isn't so sure just who the shooter is. Written by garykmcd

Brenda and her team investigate the death of a well-known psychiatrist killed in his own office. The victim was one of several doctors treating young addicts and running a clinical test of a new anti-depressant meant to keep them from returning to illicit drug use. Turns out the drug may have had serious side effects, which the leader of the study is less than cooperative about discussing. The case takes an interesting turn when it turns out the drug may not have anything to do with the murder. Meanwhile, Lt. Flynn, still trying to undermine Brenda's authority, learns that Brenda was the subject of an ethics investigation while with the Atlanta PD. Written by garykmcd / edited by statmanjeff

When the adult daughter of a U.S. Congresswoman is raped and murdered in her own home, Brenda and the Priority Murder Squad are assigned to solve the case. The young woman had recently broken up with her boyfriend and her mother insists that her daughter had no enemies. Alone in the woman's apartment, Brenda is attacked and nearly raped before she is able to subdue her attacker. It all seems like a pretty open and shut case until the culprit tells them the woman had advertised for someone to rape her on an SandM website. After twisting the website owners arm just a tad, Brenda gets a list of everyone who may have visited the sight. She tracks down the attacker but when he tells her that the woman fought back quite violently, she realizes there is something else going on as well. Written by garykmcd

Brenda and her team investigate the death of Michael Thompson, a no-nonsense judge who had, no doubt, made many enemies among those he convicted. Found shot in Griffith Park, Thompson was returning home from a poker game at a friend's house when his car was hijacked. Missing is his son, Keith, an autistic teenager who lived with his father and whose divorced mother lived in Phoenix. As Brenda delves into the judge's past looking for the perpetrator, Keith is found alive, and his penchant for numbers and the GPS in his father's car provide the keys to solving the case. Meanwhile, Brenda and Fritz continue dating, but she doesn't seem very comfortable with the idea of them as boyfriend and girlfriend. Written by garykmcd / revised by statmanjeff

Chief Johnson and the Priority Homicide Squad investigate the death from a serial gay-basher on the prowl. The politically sensitive case has the interest of an influential State legislator demanding swift justice. When Lt. Flynn gets a hot tip on a possible suspect, he passes it on to his mentor, Captain Taylor, who makes a high profile arrest. Brenda, not convinced of the arrested man's guilt (or in his brow-beaten confession), refuses to close the case. When Lt. Provenza finds key evidence that shows the suspect couldn't have done it, Brenda looks closer to home for a solution. Meanwhile, she also has to deal with her sick cat who, it turns out, isn't exactly sick. Written by garykmcd

Deputy Chief Johnson and her team investigate the rape and murder of 13-year-old Marta Alvarez, a Mexican illegal who disappeared after school two days before her body was found. Her mother Carmen and Carmen's cousin Alejandro Gutierrez work as a domestic and a gardener, respectively, for the Phillips family in whose house, it turns out, the murder took place. Suspicion falls upon Wayne Mathers, a registered sex offender reportedly seen in the area at the time. With evidence mounting up, the killer flees to Mexico where they will not extradite him unless the US waives the death penalty. Brenda and Fritz travel to Mexico to try and talk the culprit into returning voluntarily, but after receiving a flat refusal to do so, Brenda puts her backup plan into action - grant the killer exactly what he asks for. Written by garykmcd / revised and corrected by statmanjeff

Brenda and her team investigate the death of Albert Turner, butler to the rich but highly dysfunctional Dutton family. Found hanging from the flagpole at the rear of the house with a toppled over step ladder nearby, his death has all the trappings of a suicide, which the coroner affirms as the cause of death. There's little Brenda can do, but pesky DA Thomas Yates thinks otherwise. He was prosecuting Albert for murder but thinks one of the three Dutton children is actually culpable for the death of their step-mother (who inherited the family fortune) and now for Albert. At Brenda's request, the coroner reviews his findings and, considering Albert's advanced arthritis, rules out suicide. All members of the Dutton group are guilty of something, but which is guilty of murder? Written by garykmcd

Priority Homicide investigates the killing of an Iranian businessman and his bodyguard, cut down in a parking garage by a drive-by shooter in a dark SUV. With cables cut to the video surveillance cameras, only witnesses to the shooting are available - the dead man's widow (Layla Moktari) and the doctor (William Graham) who offered assistance. Brenda must deal with Layla's son Faraz, who is now the male head of the household and isn't very cooperative with authorities. Brenda's other big problem? FBI agents from the Terrorism unit, who clearly have an interest in the victim but remain tight-lipped against sharing any information. To further complicate things, her boyfriend Fritz winds up assigned as the official liaison with the LAPD for the case. Written by garykmcd

The LAPD has a major problem on their hands when Lisa Barnes is found dead. Billy Croelick was convicted of killing her some years before and is on death row awaiting execution. He was also found not guilty of another murder and it seems the police misidentified the bodies. With Croelick's likely release in the next 48 hours, Pope asks Brenda and her team to see what they can find - anything that will keep him in jail as there is little doubt he is a vicious and sadistic serial killer. Several people had their hands in the case and are afraid of what the new investigation may turn up, including Captain Taylor, Lt. Flynn and LA's only forensic dentist, Dr. Easton. Brenda is also taking something of a risk since she's just the type of woman that appeals to Croelick. As she goes through the evidence, she begins to think something is amiss. Written by garykmcd

Brenda and the team investigate the death of high profile Hollywood producer Dick Pruitt, a man found floating in his hot tub, seemingly alone. The autopsy reveals he was quite drunk, his expensive toupee pulled off, perhaps indicating a struggle, and the presence of a wet robe suggests to Brenda it may have been used to restrain the dead man and hold him under water. His wife had left with their 3-year-old a few days before and there are signs that he may have been physical with her; however, her parents provide her with an airtight alibi. Meanwhile, Assistant Chief Pope has to look into allegations of professional misconduct on Brenda's part when the department receives anonymous allegations about her relationship with the DA's office and the FBI. Captain Taylor has obviously had a hand in all of this and Pope makes it quite clear to him that any attempt at collusion will result in Taylor being investigated. Fritz suggests to Brenda that they move in together. Written by garykmcd / edited by statmanjeff