July 2008. Four families are riding high on heady market returns until the body of Rene McAllister, wife of multi-millionaire Alan "Mac" McAllister, washes up on the beach after a daylong Fourth of July bash at the home of stockbroker, Matthew Wirth. Eager to avoid publicity, au-thorities dismiss her death as an accident. Days later, when the body of college drop out, Jamie Sherman, a neighbor to Wirth, is discovered adrift in his fishing skiff, investigators suspect foul play, but the Medical Examiner reports that the youth died of a drug overdose. Only Detective James Raker, upon hearing McAllister's complaints of unauthorized trading in his deceased wife's account, suspects the two deaths are related. Bucking his superiors, Raker plunges into an investigation and quickly discovers that at least four members of the affluent lakeside commu-nity had motive and opportunity in either one or both of the deaths. Raker's pursuit slams headlong into an investigation being conducted by the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) who were closing in on Jamie Sherman's drug dealings in the affluent neighborhood. Ignoring the orders to back off, Raker fears that the killer will strike again and races to prevent it. The killer does strike for a third time but, tragically, claims the wrong victim. The story is set in the fictitious bed-room community on Heron Lake, NC, a short commute from Charles City, a metropolitan area of more than 1,000,000 and the financial center of the state.