But for the Grace (Molly Piper)

He had it coming. But who finally gave it to him?

No tears for the dead...

It was an assault on the sleepy hamlet of Grace, nestled on an island in Puget Sound: a crudely made wanted poster smack in the path of the upcoming New Year's Eve parade. Within hours, P.I. and ex-Chicago cop Molly Piper has a new client: politician Edmond Anderson Bercain, "Wanted for Crimes Against the People."

Bercain wants Molly to find the troublemakers--so he can shut them up. But Molly's retainer is still hot in her hands when Bercain turns up dead. Executed with a blunt instrument.

As Molly delves into a wealth of suspects--disaffected squatters who blame Bercain for their plight--a series of clues arrive at her door: crude messages leading to a white house with dark goings-on, and chilling motives for murder. Suddenly the most private aspects of her life--her boyfriend, a police chief on the mainland, and a troubled teenager she is mentoring--are at risk. A killer is loose in paradise. And not all of his victims are dead....