Cornwell's approach in Southern Cross is at odds with that of her other detective novels. In this story, the key crime investigators, Chief Judy Hammer, Deputy Chief Virginia West, and Officer Andy Brazil, all three formerly from Charlotte, North Carolina, are out of their depth and out of their territory in Richmond, Virginia, and their "northern" take on crime, efficiency, and methodology are totally at odds with the sleepier patterns of their Virginia colleagues.

The clash between investigative forces weakens the detective pattern and makes it vulnerable to digressions. Instead of the usual straight line from crime to detection, Cornwell leaves her investigators misdirected and misinformed. Hammer hears a muddled conversation that breaks in over her cell phone and leaps to the erroneous conclusion that a commonplace discussion of hunting and hound dogs is two rednecks planning a racially motivated hate crime, a homicide involving robbery. The "cold...