Randi Wells

Billie Holiday spent much of her career being adored by fans. In the 1940s, the government targeted Holiday in a growing effort to racialize the war on drugs, ultimately aiming to stop her from singing her controversial ballad, "Strange Fruit."

Fueled by cheap whiskey, greed and hatred, Willie Soke teams up with his angry little sidekick, Marcus, to knock off a Chicago charity on Christmas Eve. Along for the ride is chubby and cheery Thurman Merman, a 250-pound ray of sunshine who brings out Willie's sliver of humanity. Issues arise when the pair are joined by Willie's horror story of a mother, who raises the bar for the gang's ambitions, while somehow lowering the standards of criminal behavior.

FBI agent Carol Blue was unwilling to take local help in the case of the kidnapping of little Zoe Hendricks, but ex-cop Chris Milos' private investigation bureau proves just too good. His dog handler, Brenna Shaw, and her Alsatian, Brie, find the kidnapper holding Zoe and dropping the kid in the water on purpose so he can escape. They soon conclude it's not a ransom case but more personal, are contacted under the Biblical name Gideon 'judge', and get caught up in his macabre, vindictive games and gruesome logic