The shocking murder of a city councilor has stunned Port Stirling, Oregon, and Police Chief Matt Horning is running hard to find the killer and soothe a nervous town.
Port Stirling is torn apart by a controversial new luxury resort planned in a pristine setting near the Pacific Ocean beach. As the city council prepares to vote on the Wave’s End proposal, Freida Ogelthorpe – thought to be the swing vote – is found with a knife in her back. Was her murder related to the resort development decision?
As the tension builds while the killer is still out there, PSPD nerves are fraying. Matt and his local team are forced to investigate professional colleagues and even some of their closest friends. If he fails, will another city councilor be next? Or worse, will Port Stirling itself survive this crisis?
Issues surrounding development are wreaking havoc throughout Oregon, and this small village in a remote, rugged corner of the state is not immune from residents’ discord. Old grudges and competing business interests, bubbling under the surface of the town for decades, begin to boil over. Everyone knows everyone, and everyone is a suspect.