Smoke Screen

Britt Shelley, a television newswoman in Charleston, wakes in bed beside Jay Burgess, a rising star detective with the Charleston PD. Jay is dead. Britt has no memory of the night before, or of how he died.

Five years earlier, a fire destroyed the city's police headquarters and killed seven people. Jay was one of four city officials praised for leading others out of the building, and the toll could have been far worse without them. Since then he has been known as a hard-partying hero.

Raley Gannon, a firefighter and Jay's friend since boyhood, was off duty during the blaze. He was put in charge of finding its cause, but one disastrous night ended that work. He lost the woman he loved and the career he had given himself to, betrayed by people he trusted. He has resented the men who used their fame to climb ever since.

When Jay dies and suspicion falls on Britt, Raley sees a chance to clear his name and win justice for the fire's victims. Powerful men want the old questions left alone and will do whatever it takes to protect their reputations. As the two dig, the story shifts from a murder investigation to a thriller in which they are hunted.