CANVAS OF SECRETS

In Daigle’s thriller, a Laguna Beach police detective and a local reporter become involved in an investigation that changes the trajectories of their own lives.

Ray Stone, formerly of the LAPD (until he blew his cover during a major sting operation), is biding his time in California’s sleepy, artsy town of Laguna Beach. He misses the adrenaline-fueled high-octane police work of Los Angeles and is waiting for a chance to redeem himself. Early in the morning on New Year’s Day, 1969, a call comes in from dispatch: “Dead body at Shaw’s Cove.” The victim is Amelia Hart, a wealthy 50-something member of the artistic community and an anti-war activist. Her body is badly bruised. The officer on the scene says it is a suicide, but Ray suspects there is more to the story. Meanwhile, Dennis Driver, a reporter with the local Daily Pilot and a Vietnam War veteran, is battling depression and PTSD-like symptoms. On New Year’s Day, he checks the newspaper and sees that his story had been scrapped for one written by a more experienced reporter. When he dejectedly enters the newsroom, his editor hands him an opportunity for his big break: Report on the suspicious death of Amelia Hart. As Ray and Dennis, working separately but occasionally sharing information, begin digging into the secrets hidden behind the glossy facade of Amelia’s life, Daigle leads readers through the dark underbelly of the high-priced art world. The twisty, methodically paced narrative is as much a character study of two men struggling to overcome their inner demons and begin anew as it is an engaging mystery. A skillful wordsmith, Daigle mixes tight dialogue with long descriptive sentences, displaying a passion for similes that occasionally threaten to overwhelm the action: “…he watched the smoke twist and rise, a serpentine signal of the story he was about to unravel.”

A satisfying mystery filled with intriguing characters.