Garrison Gage Mystery

"Carter's writing is on target." - Publishers WeeklyA curmudgeon. An iconoclast. A loner. That's how people describe Garrison Gage, and that's when they're being charitable.After his wife's brutal murder in New York, and Gage himself is beaten nearly to death, the crippled private investigator retreats three thousand miles to the quaint coastal town of Barnacle Bluffs, Oregon. He spends the next five years in a convalescent stupor, content to bide his time filling out crossword puzzles and trying to forget that his wife's death is his fault. But all that changes when he discovers the body of a young woman washed up on the beach, and his conscience draws him back into his old occupation - forcing him to confront the demons of his own guilt before he can hope to solve the girl's murder.Publisher's Note: A newly revised edition of The Gray and Guilty Sea was published in June 2014, correcting minor typos and formatting errors.* * * * *The Garrison Gage Mysteries(in chronological order):The Gray and Guilty SeaA Desperate Place for DyingThe Lovely Wicked Rain

They find his body at the bottom of Heceta Head Lighthouse-Ed Boone, a longtime volunteer who commits suicide rather than see his grim diagnosis to its bitter end. The strangeness of the old man's death makes the local news, but Garrison Gage thinks little of it until the famous Nora West sneaks into town with an unsettling letter in hand. Professing he wants to go to his grave with a clear conscience, Ed claims to be Nora's biological father. But the revelation stirs up all kinds of complicated emotions for the talented but troubled musician, who hires Gage to find out the truth. Yet the truth may be a lot more disturbing - and dangerous - than either of them expect.

Gage hates birthdays. So when his daughter throws him a surprise party on the coldest night the Oregon coastal town of Barnacle Bluffs has seen in years, Gage finds himself in an equally frosty mood. And when a police cruiser stops him as he trudges along Highway 101, minding his own business, he can't imagine the night could get any worse. Oh, but it does. For the cranky private investigator with the bum knee, it can always get worse. When the cops collar one of the people closest to Gage for murder, the desperate hours ahead become a frantic push to right a presumed injustice. Add in a daughter's secret life, a bad boy Hollywood star, and a troubled new police chief with something to prove, and the night doesn't just get worse. It forces a quickly unraveling Gage to choose between cold, uncomfortable truths-about himself, about someone he loves-and shallow but comforting deceptions.