Steven Gore. Act of Deceipt (2011) 341 pp. [pbo]
Publisher’s description: “Mt. Shasta is far from the San Francisco sidewalk on which Harlan Donnally’s life nearly ended in a crossfire—but all too close to a decades-old secret that will force him into another. The former detective swore he’d never play anyone’s postman. But a dying friend’s plea takes Donnally bearing a letter alive with tragedy toward a sister long dead—the victim of the bizarre criminality of a counterculture that had lost its way. Stunned to learn that her killer was never prosecuted, Donnally soon finds himself in battle against a broken justice system and on a trail of evil into a dangerous borderland in which the falsely pious and the wealthy abuse the young and the poor. And though each step takes him farther down a perilous path that wrenches him between his inner demons and his mission to redeem a brother’s love, he won’t stop until he knows the truth. For Donnally made a promise to a dead man, and he’ll keep it—or die trying.”
Setting: San Francisco, Mt. Shasta, Cancun (Mexico)