James Dewitt is the only detective on the Carmel, California police force. His usual caseload is stolen bicycles and an occasional burglary. But things change with frightening speed when a series of apparent suicides, which soon prove to be murders, shocks the community.
The setting is Carmel, California—a scenic, peaceful tourist haven where James Dewitt is the police force's only detective. His usual caseload is stolen bicycles and an occasional burglary, but things change with frightening speed when a series of apparent suicides, which soon prove to be murders, shocks the community. Dewitt, a former forensic scientist, struggles with the minutest of clues in his quest for the killer, while departmental turf wars and local politics increase the pressures on his investigation. His steps are further dogged by renegade ex-cop Howard Lumbrowski, the man Dewitt blames for his wife's death. How is Lumbrowski connected to the killings? And why does he have information from Dewitt's confidential files? Dewitt finds himself playing a dangerous game, breaking his own rules in a desperate search for answers.
Ridley Pearson
Ridley Pearson is a New York Times bestselling author with over 24 novels published. His work is extremely diverse, from children’s fiction to crime novels, paranormal and adventure; his novels often incorporate a compelling combination of realistic high-tech forensic wizardry and hair-trigger suspense. One of his best-known crime novels, Undercurrents, contained cutting-edge forensic ideas that helped solve a real-life homicide case. Another, Chain of Evidence, was the first to raise the possibility of a "crime gene"—which later became the focus of a high-profile genetics conference. He has published several popular crime series featuring recurring characters, as well as standalone novels under his own name and the pseudonyms Joyce Reardon, Ph.D. and Wendell McCall. Pearson was the first American to receive the Raymond Chandler Fulbright fellowship at Oxford University, the site of his research for best-selling novels No Witnesses and The Angel Maker. He was also a founding member and bass player for the Rock Bottom Remainders, a band comprised of best-selling authors including Dave Barry and Stephen King.
