Publisher's Synopsis
The Pallbearers
Detective Shane Scully was reared in the orphanage Huntington House and the only positive thing in his life was the attention of the Home's director, Walter "Pop" Dix. He was the father none of them ever had. That was thirty years ago. Now, Shane revisits these memories when Pop is found dead, the victim of an apparently self-inflicted shotgun blast. He leaves a message asking six specific people from Huntington House to be pallbearers, and Shane is one of them. He and the others don't believe it was a suicide. That leaves murder. But why, and by whom? Together, the pallbearers embark on a dangerous odyssey in pursuit of justice and retribution. Their journey takes them up against an unforeseen adversary whose power and influence exceed anything they imagined.
The Prostitutes' Ball
A few days before Christmas, Scully and his wife, Alexa, respond to a call in the Hollywood Hills. The crime scene is the backyard swimming pool of a once-immaculate mansion, the site of an infamous murder decades prior, where a family was killed in cold blood on Christmas Eve. Since then, the house has been shuttered and left exactly as it was on that terrible night. Shane and Alexa arrive to discover the aftermath of a lavish party and three dead bodies, all shot with the same gun. One is acclaimed film producer Scott Berman. The others, a pair of gorgeous women in their early twenties. Scully is assigned to the case along with his new partner, Sumner Hitchens. Scully and Hitch begin to investigate: The two young women were hired prostitutes, and there's a security video of an angry husband firing on all three. A simple case of revenge. But there's a catch: The detectives discover a single bullet casing that doesn't match the rest. From that single bullet emerges a story that spans thirty years--a tale of love, murder, suicide, and one of the biggest financial frauds in L.A. history. But someone has gone to great lengths to cover up the crime, and as Scully and Hitch get closer to the answer, they find themselves in a killer's crosshairs.
