Trigger City

Ray Dudgeon, a private investigator in Chicago, is still recovering, in body and mind, from his clash with the Chicago Outfit. He wants an easy job. A closed murder case looks like one: a woman killed by a disturbed coworker, the police done with it, and her grieving father asking for the truth about a daughter he never really knew.

The pay is good and the work should be routine. It is not. The dead woman was no quiet, shy office worker who ran out of luck. She led a double life in covert intelligence, and she died fighting for the truth in a field built on secrets and lies.

Ray is soon caught between private contractors and the darkest sectors of the American government. The conflict runs from closed-door congressional hearings to the front lines in Iraq. To stay alive he has to work out who is pulling the strings before he becomes collateral damage in the war on terror.

This is a PI thriller and the follow-up to Big City, Bad Blood. The tone is tense and the pace fast, with a private eye far out of his depth. Ray faces enemies more powerful than any before, and one of the biggest threats may be himself.