A novel about a police operation in a future with nanotechnology

Question

I read a story years ago (1990s perhaps) about police work in the future. I don't remember the title or author, but the main character was a policewoman. The climax of the story was a major police raid. The night before was spent "growing" specialised weapons and equipment using nanotechnology. Nano tech wasn't mentioned much unti the end, as I recall. A constant feature was a communicator called a Pad, which was pretty much what an iPad is nowadays, phone/newspaper/messages/information. Does anyone know of this novel?

Answer 1

Is it possible you're remembering Queen of Angels (1990) by Greg Bear?

The first storyline follows LAPD Lieutenant Mary Choy, detective/investigator as she tries to hunt down a criminal, Schlege, who is organizing and committing vigilante acts of torture. The first part of her arc concludes with a major police raid against his people ("Selectors") to arrest them and free their victims.

I don't specifically recall having to wait on an operation while weapons are grown, but they do deploy nanotech surveillance devices to infiltrate their apartment before charging in.

Nanotech is ubiquitous in the novel, used for everything from space probes to body modification ("transforms").

As for the pad, they have "slates" which are basically tablets. They can use them for communication, viewing - in the above scene nanobots are sent though the sewage system to infiltrate the apartment the Selectors are using; they watch the video on their slates. Later, Mary uses her slate to connect to the office network and work.

Answer 2

Aw, someone got here first. I think it's Queen of Angels too. Good book. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_of_Angels_(novel)