Steve Braun

Patrick Jane sees a different motive than the obvious one when the State's witness in a narcotics case and his girlfriend are found murdered.

Brennan's latest murder-mystery is an immediate best-seller. Enjoying her success and her newfound love with Agent Sullivan, Brennan prepares to hit the publicity circuit to promote the novel. However, when she and Booth investigate a murder in the marina, they notice striking similarities between the case and one of the fictional murders in Brennan's book. A shaken Brennan grows impatient as her team suggests the murder was not an eerie coincidence, but the work of a copycat killer mimicking the murders in her novel. If this were true, the murder in the marina would be only the first of three gruesome killings, and the Jeffersonian buzzes with talk of what might happen next. Tensions build as Sully and Booth vie to protect Brennan and investigate possible suspects, including an overly obsessive fan who once stalked her. When a second murder is committed exactly like one of Brennan's fictional killings, she is overwhelmed by the possibility of playing a role in the loss of innocent lives. With a potential third murder on the horizon, the team races to identify the copycat killer before the deadly final chapter unfolds.

Gibbs and the team investigate when McGee's fictional book about an NCIS agent becomes reality. McGee is horrified when a Petty Officer on whom he based the character for his latest book is murdered.

Since Brenda's traumatic incident with a serial killer has left her shaken, the department psychologist takes her off investigative duty. To keep Brenda busy, Pope assigns her to a television reporter doing a story on the LAPD. While Brenda and Gabriel are escorting the journalist, their car is attacked with a barrage of gunfire, leaving the reporter dead. Because she is a witness and off active duty, she is not able to participate in the investigation ... at least not overtly. Meanwhile, when Brenda's parents, Willie Ray (recurring guest FRANCES STERNHAGEN) and Clay (recurring guest star BARRY CORBIN - "One Tree Hill"), visit, Fritz meets Clay for the first time. Brenda still has not told her parents about her engagement. Series star Kyra Sedgwick's husband, actor KEVIN BACON ("Mystic River," "The Woodsman"), directed the episode.

The CSIs face their toughest challenge yet when a bomber uses random cell phone pages to detonate C-4 bombs across the city, and a member of the team fights for life when seriously injured during one of the explosions. (TV-14)