Tag Archives: Shannon Doyle

In this book, we follow the story of Shannon Doyle, with whom Joe DeMarco had a short relationship in the previous book, House Privilege. Doyle’s book became a best-seller, and she moved to California, leaving DeMarco behind.

The story picks up with Doyle being murdered in a small Wyoming town, while researching her next book. DeMarco reads about this in the paper, and immediately sets out to find out more – he does not buy the local sheriff’s story that a passing trucker likely killed her, and he heads to Wyoming himself.

Once in Wyoming, Joe DeMarco finds himself an unwanted stranger as he pokes into the private business of Deputy Jim Turner, Hiram Bunt the local landowner (whose standoff with the government over grazing fees brought Doyle to the town), Bunt’s beautiful young wife Lisa – and the mysterious cafe owner, Harriet.

DeMarco calls Tommy Hewlett for backup, and faces off against the suspects, using himself as bait to draw them out. This is quite a transformation from DeMarco in the early books, who shunned his father’s violent reputation and was hardly in a fight.

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Joe DeMarco’s boss, John Mahoney (Speaker of the House), has a goddaughter. Cassie is 15, and the child of one of his rich constituents. Sadly, her parents died when their private plane crashed due to loss of oil pressure. Even sadder, Cassie is now under the care of Mahoney – and he dispatched Joe to look out for her until wife Mary Pat is able to step in.

Another sudden death occurs due to a shooting, in which Cassie’s trust’s auditor is murdered. DeMarco starts to connect the dots and wonder if the plane crash might not have been accident. Perhaps Erin Kelly, the trust fund manager, has something to hide, especially when she suddenly leaves the country and millions go missing.

Meanwhile, DeMarco meets Shannon Doyle, an author who works in a bar. He asks her out and he takes her to ice hockey. He also investigates Tommy Hewlett, a former driver for Mahoney who is blackmailing him

DeMarco still loves golf and is a generally lazy man, but in this book he certainly shows growth, deciding for himself that justice needs to be done, and taking control of situations where in the past he needed help from his friend Emma.

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