Summer of Fear by T. Jefferson Parker

When reporter/crime writer Russell Monroe finds his former lover brutally slain in an apparently ritual style, he suspects a connection to other recent murders in the county. Somehow, the case never appears on the police blotter - although Russell saw his former colleague, homicide chief Marty Parish, leaving the scene of the crime - and soon all evidence of the death disappears. Meanwhile, a string of killings continues in the same gruesome style, and Russell becomes the contact of the deranged man responsible.

Silent Joe by T. Jefferson Parker

Scarred for life by a brutal father, Joe Trona found a safe haven and a loving childhood in the home of the couple who adopted him. Now he spends his days as a deputy for the Orange County sheriff's department and his nights as a driver and aide to Will Trona, the influential politician who rescued him from the Hillside Children's Home. An expert in firearms and the martial arts, Joe has been backing Will up for a long time.

Red Light by T. Jefferson Parker

Parker's many fans met Merci Rayborn, the Orange County homicide investigator, in The Blue Hour, and will be happy to renew their acquaintance with her in Red Light. Although she's still mourning the death of her former partner Tim Hess, who fathered her 2-year-old son, her relationship with fellow cop Mike McNally is progressing nicely, and so is her career on the force.

Pacific Beat by T. Jefferson Parker

Parker's third thriller is a powerful, unforgettable story of murder and corruption told in prose as sparkling and tough as any devotee of the hard-boiled tradition could wish, a tale that fulfills all the promise of his smash debut, Laguna Heat. After a brief and unpleasant stay in a Mexican jail, ex-cop Jim Weir returns to Newport Beach, Calif., for a joyful reunion with his mother and his sister, Ann, both activists in a campaign to stop rapacious developers from destroying their city.

This workmanlike suspense thriller by the author of Laguna Heat takes its name from the populous Vietnamese community in California's Orange County, an intriguing although largely unexplored backdrop for the action. Chuck Frye, a surf bum who has recently failed at journalism, business and marriage, lives in the shadow of his war-hero brother Bennett, and their father, a wealthy real-estate tycoon. Bennett's Vietnamese wife is a singer whose protest music has made her a heroine among anticommunists and Asian expatriates.