Grave Garden

Private investigator Jake Smith is sometimes a hero, sometimes a vigilante, and sometimes too vain to get out of his own way—but always a thorn in the cop's side. Homicide detective, Max Marsh, Marshmallow, as Smith refers to him, bent on driving away from San Diego again. Smith's fall from grace came from Bang Stick's (book one) unsolved murder, when he got forced out of the department and relocated to Arkansas.

Over years this case haunted him and never far from his mind. Now, Smith returned to San Diego, and so did his suspect. Alex, Smith's wife, forces her husband to attend a North County wine tasting where a chance encounter brings his nightmares to life.

Soon he is consumed to finish the case. The murder of both the girl's parents cause Marsh and the San Diego police to investigate the crime resurrecting conflicts with Jake Smith.

Jake is hot on the trail when he disappears somewhere in Texas. His Corvette shows up much later, stolen from a mall parking lot in Kansas City, and involved in a high speed chase and horrific crash. In the hospital, fighting for his life, Smith has no memory of his accident, and doesn't know where he is or how he got there.

Everything appears to be working in his favor when his fiancé appears. But shortly, it gets complicated—Alex, his wife, finds him.