The Big Boom (A North Beach Mystery, 2)

Set in San Francisco before the high-tech markets went bust, The Big Boom features Dante Mancuso, an obsessive private investigator who works the streets of his hometown where he's known by his nose and his nickname: The Pelican.

Settling in and hoping to settle down, his peace is shattered when an old North Beach family asks him to find their daughter---one of Dante's former sweethearts. Though the case alienates his longtime lover Marilyn Visconte, Dante has no choice but to plunge into the shadows of the dot-com revolution.

A tightrope of a novel and a perfect modern example of classic noir, The Big Boom is a taut story about familial duplicity, personal greed, and the desperate pull of love in many forms.