Synopsis
Richmond, California. World War II. A cross burning takes innocent lives and unsettles the town. After Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, American Italians start to disappear, a rapist promises to revisit his victims, and someone viciously beats shipyard workers – to death. His failure to solve these seemingly unrelated events haunts homicide detective Oliver Wright, even after he reenlists in the Marines and finds himself fighting in the Pacific.
Oliver returns to Richmond near the end of the war, injured and afraid his career is over. But when an Italian Prisoner of War is murdered the night the Port Chicago Mutiny verdicts are announced, and black soldiers are suspected of the crime, the Army asks Oliver to find out the truth. He joins forces with an Italian POW captain and with a black MP embittered by a segregated military. During their investigation, these unlikely allies expose layers of deceit and violence that stretch back to World War I, and uncover a common thread that connects the earlier crimes.
In the Shadow of Lies reveals the darkness and turmoil of the Bay Area during World War II, while celebrating the spirit of the everyday people who made up the home front. Its intriguing characters will resonate with the reader long after its deftly intertwined mysteries are solved.
Excerpt
“Stop, or I’ll shoot!”
A soldier raised his pistol and searched the water for Luca.
“Stop!”
The Italian POW broke the surface ten feet away from the ferry. The soldier fired at the bobbing head, then aimed again. A cane struck his arm.
“Stand down, soldier!” Lt. Oliver Wright stumbled against him, then righted himself with the cane. “Can’t you see what’s happening?”
“Oh, I get it.” The guard smiled and lowered the gun. “Why waste the ammo? That dago won’t last ten minutes out there.”
Something flew past their heads once, then again. An MP threw a third life preserver into the bay. Harley trembled at the rail and barked sharply at Oliver. The dog flew into the air and over the side as soon as Oliver’s hand began the signal to go.
The MP saluted. “My people don’t much take after Johnny Weissmuller, but we do have a talent for throwing. Corporal Nate Hermit, sir.”
Their hasty introductions were subsumed in shouts and cries.
“Man overboard! Come about, come about!”
The ferry shuddered as the engines slammed into reverse. Above the vessel’s groans, a woman shrieked. Soldiers and POWs rushed to her side.
Another group of POWs spotted a motorized skiff lashed to the rail and raced toward it. Nate took off after them, reaching the boat as it swung out and back against the side of the ferry, the POWs straining to lower it and the weight of two of their compatriots. Oliver watched Nate launch himself into the skiff, knock down one of the POWs, and almost wrench the lines free.
“Sorry. If I don’t come with you, that cracker with the pistol will sink you before you can help that little girl—and your captain.” He righted himself and looked toward the water. Oliver heard him mutter, “Then again, he would just as happily sink me, too.”
