Typical American Town

Author of the Edgar Award-nominated historical novel SPQR and its sequels, John Maddox Roberts now introduces a modern-day detective. Gabe Treloar is a burnt-out California cop on his way east to start over as a private investigator, but his trip is temporarily sidetracked and he ends up in his hometown of Monticello, Ohio, a self-proclaimed "typical American town." Mentally and physically exhausted from years of stress and external pressure, Gabe is somewhat rejuvenated by a reunion with his childhood sweetheart Lola Cohan, and is reluctant to leave. He then finds a kindred spirit in his landlady, Edna Tutts. Hiding secrets of her own, the older woman is nevertheless a warm, sympathetic presence in Gabe's life. But when Edna is brutally murdered, Gabe becomes suspect number one in the eyes of both the sheriff and the chief of police. Determined to bring Edna's killers to justice, Gabe realizes he is coming back to life with a vengeance as he tries to discover why anyone would kill the gentle, intelligent woman. Investigating the mysteries of Edna's past, Gabe keeps finding that there are more well-kept secrets in this typical American town.