Raymond "Strong" Carlisle made his mark as an ace sideman to the biggest names in R&B. Now he lies in the mud outside his home, shot dead from behind. He's the first official casualty in a dirty war for control of Rio Mirada: a low-rent "city in transition" at the northernmost point of the San Francisco Bay, beset by drug dealers, arsonists, squatters, and restless developers. And now a murderer.
In Rio Mirada, the truth is in short supply. What's plentiful are people with all the reasons in the world to make sure the murder of Strong Carlisle remains unsolved. And the harder Detective...