Couple details: It's December 1979. Colleen is an unlicensed PI in San Francisco. She's from Colorado where she served near 10y for murdering her husband when she found out he was abusing their daughter Pam. Near the end of Colleen's sentence, Pam took off for California where she joined up with a cult (the subject of a couple earlier books). When paroled, Colleen took off for California hoping to reconnect with Pam. They did, sort of. Pam was pregnant, lost the baby, and bolted again. Finding Pam remains Colleen's primary obsession.
But bills have to be paid and she does what so many PIs do, tracking down philandering spouses. Plus she is attempting to get three young girls off the street corners. And she remains a sympathetic shoulder for SF homicide inspector Owens who, even a year later, hasn't moved on from his divorce from Alice.
And that's the problem. Owens and Alice were making an attempt at reconciliation. They are headed for a romantic weekend at the site of their honeymoon near coastal Sonoma County. That's the last Colleen had heard from Owens until she gets word that that the romantic bungalow had burned down. In the debris is a badly burned female corpse tentatively identified as the former Mrs. Owens, a handgun licensed to Owens, and 2 bullet holes in the corpse. Doesn't take long for the local and county cops to lock up Owens.
Most would see this as and open and shut case. Not Colleen. She and Owens may have butted heads on earlier cases, but now, he is her closest confidant. The feeling is mutual. No one believes Owen other than Colleen.
The trail seemed fairly straightforward. Find out who's framing Owens and why. And the why is where the trail takes a circuitous path toward the truth. An old beau (hers and Alice's), an insurance policy, a less than trustworthy dentist, one of the 3 street hookers and their pimp, SFPD Internal Affairs office, the lack of a corpse for a missing trans hooker. What started off looking to be a straight line investigation is anything but.
As stated, this is the 4th (of 5) Colleen Hayes mysteries (published by Oceanview Publishing . . . there's that name again. Publishers on quality mysteries and police procedurals). About the time I had read 50% of the book, the cards sure looked to be stacked against Owens. The case looked like it was locked up tight. What else could Tomlinson do with this story? Plenty. By comparison, the 2nd half of the book was a ton more interesting and engaging with the rapid fire twists to the story.
I tend to read books envisioning whether it has TV/Movie potential. The best thing about this series is Colleen Hayes. Ex-con, tough as nails, not quite middle aged, unconcerned about chain of evidence, B&E, carrying a firearm (a felony), or any number of things that might get tossed out of court, her hippie/cowboy/surfer lawyer, and Tomlinson's attention to late 1970s detail. Lot of fun characters. What's not to love for Hollywood? And I'm the right age to identify with the 70s.
Check out the Colleen Hayes books. I will find #5 and get back to you. Confident they'll be a hit with you.
East Coast Don
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