The First Body Is Found On Lake Tahoe's Only Island When a man tells Tahoe Detective Owen McKenna that his girlfriend disappeared, McKenna wonders if the woman got cold feet and ran away. But when she turns up murdered on Fannette Island with red roses in her mouth, McKenna discovers that she used a scam charity to steal millions. More Bodies Follow A second victim is found with a tennis ball crammed into his mouth. A third has military medals in his cheeks. McKenna suspects that these victims also ran fraudulent charities. McKenna's Own Girlfriend Fears Attack While McKenna investigates the murders, his girlfriend Street Casey has reason to believe that her ex-con father, who's jumped parole, wants revenge for her testimony that put in him in prison decades ago. A Twisted Killer Plans A Devastating Climax It appears that the victims are all payback targets of a vigilante killer. McKenna finds lots of potential suspects. But he can't link any of them to the crimes. What he doesn't know is that both he and his girlfriend are about to face someone who wants them very dead...

Review

KIrkus Reviews:

A California private investigator and his Great Dane explore the seamy underside of charities. Philosophical sleuth Owen McKenna, aided largely by his dog, Spot, returns in this 15th volume of Borg's (Tahoe Dark, 2016, etc.) mystery/thriller series. When the novel opens, Owen already has a personal case on his plate. His girlfriend, scientific researcher Street Casey, is being stalked by her father, Tom, who has threatened to kill her for her testimony, which sent him to prison for a long stretch. Street has refused Owen's proffered protection, choosing instead to continue living on her own while learning self-defense techniques from him. But, having to pay the bills, Owen gets drawn into a new case involving charity scammers. The client is Douglas Fairbanks, whose parents obviously had a nasty sense of humor. The introverted, middle-aged millionaire wants Owen to find his missing, much-younger girlfriend, Isadore. The two get off to a rocky start when Owen questions Isadore's motives: "You are suggesting that the love of my life is a con artist, a thief?" Fairbanks asks. Owen's instincts prove correct after Isadora is found gruesomely murdered, as he discovers she earned millions off a fake charity. Soon three others connected to charity scams are similarly slain, and Owen is hunting a serial killer. All the while, he is preoccupied by the threat to Street. In Owen, a former San Francisco homicide detective, Borg has created a winning protagonist, both forthright and pragmatic. It's a treat to see how his mind works. Owen has a dedicated partner in Spot, whom he has trained as both a search and an attack dog and who becomes a central figure in this installment. More problematic is the damaged Street, whom Owen struggles to protect while respecting her wishes. The author has provided a diverse group of believable suspects, including the son of a charity's mark, a disabled artist, a forgetful scientist, and even Owen's own client. Borg effectively sets all this action against the colorful backdrop of Tahoe and its visitors and citizens. The result is an engrossing whodunit that should keep readers guessing through the final twist.
A worthy addition to a well-devised mystery/thriller series. - Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Tahoe local Todd Borg is the bestselling author of 15 Owen McKenna Mystery Thrillers. Borg's novels have won the Ben Franklin Award for Best Mystery of the Year, made Library Journal's Top 5 Mysteries of the Year list, received rave reviews, including a starred review in Library Journal, and made Amazon's Mystery/Thriller and Private Investigator Bestseller Lists multiple times.