Raptor's Ridge: A Max Blake Mystery

A mild-mannered college professor becomes an unlikely candidate to hunt down the killer of the towns richest man and his movie star paramour. But as things progress it quickly becomes apparent that every attractive woman on the West Coast has become a maniacs idea of the most dangerous game. Called in because of a chance encounter years before Max Blake a former newspaper reporter-turned-professor and part-time private detective is forced to form unusual and sometimes dodgy alliances as he investigates the vicious killings with the citys police chief. The alliance is even more complicated because of a past history between Max and the chief and the fact that the leading candidates for the murders are members of the citys police force. The trail winds through the incredible mansion called Raptors Ridge through the streets and alleyways of Oregons state capitol and it eventually spills into the states beautiful but deadly High Desert near the town of John Day. When the killer is eventually cornered and violence explodes in unexpected ways Max must use all of his wits and daring plus a little bit of luck to remain alive during a deadly night of terror ... and eventual reckoning. Fans of the authors Max Blake Westerns series will rejoice in discovering this new and thoroughly modern Max the great-great grandson and namesake of the legendary federal marshal that forms the basis of five novels from the same author.