Fire Lake

A phone ringing after midnight means trouble, especially in private eye Harry Stoner's business. This time the 1:30 call is trouble, all right. A motel clerk wants somebody to pick up the loser registered as Harry Stoner who just tried to kill himself. When the real Stoner gets to the Encantada Motel, he finds his old college roommate nearly dead and too many memories still alive. It's a suicide attempt that forces Stoner back into his own past, where a pretty woman, a brutal murder, and the bitter remnants of the sixties drug culture make Stoner's future look rosy…like flowers on a grave.
"Valin's prose is spare and at times chilling, the plot is complex yet
coherent, and Cincinnati emerges as a city with a vibrant and
distinctive personality."
"Using the detective story as a medium, Valin writes complex dramas that
explore the depths of human emotions and motivation. As Stoner becomes
more real with each book, the novels themselves live as fine examples of
what a first-rate author can accomplish in the genre."