A romantic mystery about love after loss?and the courage to choose happiness again.
Private investigator Jack Drake has everything a man is supposed to want:
a Malibu beach mansion, a glamorous movie-star girlfriend, loyal friends, and a successful career.
But Jack is still in love with his dead wife?and he's built his life around not moving on.
He sleeps too little, worries too much, and keeps his heart carefully sealed off, even as his warm, intelligent neighbor Jennifer Pearson quietly loves him from a distance.
Then a wounded sixteen-year-old boy enters his life.
As a favor to an old friend, Jack shelters Game?a street-smart teenager caught in the crossfire of an inner-city shooting?inside the mansion Jack shares with his famous girlfriend. What begins as obligation deepens into a fragile bond between two people who recognize each other's grief.
When the shooting leads to a series of murders stretching from the streets of Oakville to the sunlit elegance of Malibu, Jack is pulled into a dangerous investigation that forces him to confront the truths he's been avoiding?about justice, responsibility, and love.
Going to battle for others has always come easily to Jack.
Fighting for his own happiness is far more terrifying.
Hard Exit is a character-driven romantic mystery about grief, emotional courage, and a man torn between the life he has and the life he's afraid to claim.
Perfect for readers who enjoy:
- Romantic mysteries with emotional depth
- Love-after-loss stories
- Protective but emotionally restrained heroes
- Mysteries where relationships matter as much as the crime
"This is a smart, edgy, state-of-the-art L.A. noir with heart. Jack Drake is a private eye with grit, a few demons and a semi-glamorous life on the beach in Malibu. This series is a terrific addition to the modern hard-boiled genre."
?New York Times bestselling author Jayne Ann Krentz
