Meet Jake Diamond, a San Francisco PI who is more over-easy than hard-boiled, needs lots of help but is afraid to ask, has a very difficult time keeping his neckties stain free, guzzles bourbon and antacid with equal ineffectiveness, and can't get enough of Dickens and Dumas. As much as he could use the work, Jake is not anxious to take on the case of a missing husband. Jake has learned from experience that being a missing husband is not necessarily a bad thing to be, particularly if the husband in question is a murder suspect. Jake's friend and mentor, Jimmy Pigeon, who inspired Jake to trade his Screen Actors' Guild card for a private investigator's license, had taught Diamond well. "Whenever I'm asked to locate a missing spouse," Jimmy said, "the words no, but thanks for asking always come to mind." Jake is all set to live by those words until he discovers that the murder victim was Jimmy Pigeon himself. Determined to discover the identity of Pigeon's killer, Diamond scrambles between Los Angeles and San Francisco following leads that range from weak to delusional. With the help of his trusty and sarcastic assistant, Darlene Roman, compulsive gambler Vinnie Stradivarius, and Italian-American 'businessman' Joey Russo; Jake slowly uncovers the motives behind the death of Jimmy Pigeon. Along the way, Jake trips over the bodies of a few other hapless victims, dodges mob hit men and over-zealous police detectives, and finds the case swimming with characters from his past.

The follow-up to the award winning Catching Water in a Net... Lefty Wright had it all figured. In fact he was doing the math as he crawled into the deserted house through the kitchen window. Get to the bedroom, crack open the wall safe, grab the envelope, fifteen minutes. One thousand dollars a minute. Nice score. What Lefty neglected to factor in were the unknowns. And when the police nab him red-handed and discover the dead body of a prominent Criminal Courts Judge stuffed beneath the bed, Lefty finds himself charged with first degree murder with no shoes, no one believing in his innocence, and one phone call. He calls Jake Diamond. In his second outing, Diamond attempts to prove Lefty’s innocence while investigating a recent kidnapping and a fifteen year old homicide which may or may not be related to Lefty’s dilemma. From San Francisco to the avocado fields of central California to the sound stages of a film shoot in Denver, Diamond’s suspects seem to have one thing in common; they are in no condition to talk by the time Jake gets to them.

San Francisco private investigator Jake Diamond is known for his stained neckties and stash of sour-mash whiskey; but Jake is more likely to be toting a worn paperback Classic novel than a handgun. More over-easy than hard-boiled, Diamond can be beaten up and knocked around without taking it too personally; but when his friends and loved ones are threatened, it’s a different story. When a Chicago thug known as Ralph Battle bursts into the office of Diamond Investigation waving a 44 magnum at Diamond and his trusty assistant, Jake has the distinct feeling that missing his lunch of fried calamari may not be the worst of his problems. Jake accompanies Battle to Chicago at the mandatory request of Max Lansdale, a mob-connected attorney, who asks Jake to search for a pair of ghosts and will not take no for an answer. Pushed to the edge, Jake is ready to put his rusty .38 to use to get Lansdale off his back. Running between San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles, Diamond tries to stay one step ahead of the man who will have Jake killed with no remorse as soon as Diamond proves useless. With the help of Joey Russo and a team of Jake’s familiar cohorts, including Vinnie “Strings” Stradivarius, Darlene Roman and Sonny “The Chin” Badalamenti, Jake may be saved from becoming a murderer himself. May be. Trying to escape the wildest ride of his life; Jake is counting on luck, counting on a group of unlikely heroes, and counting to infinity. Praise for COUNTING TO “Fans of Mafiosi fiction should be the most satisfied.” —Publishers Weekly

Private Investigator Jacob Diamond and San Francisco Detective Sergeant Roxton Johnson are famous for not getting along. Cats and dogs. Oil and water. Liston and Ali. Jake and Rocky. When an assistant district attorney is murdered in his high-rise apartment building, and Johnson suspects his lieutenant may have something to do with it, he can think of no one else to turn to for help—no one he can trust—except Jake Diamond. If the mismatched duo can avoid stepping on each other’s toes long enough—they may be able to stop circling the runway and land on the villain’s doorstep. Lieutenant Laura Lopez, Detective Ray Boyle, Joey Clams, Vinnie Strings and Darlene Roman are all back in the first new Jake Diamond escapade since Counting to Infinity. “Jake Diamond is back and it feels like the return of an old friend. One of my all-time favorite PI series—Circling the Runway is the best yet.” —Steve Hamilton, Edgar Award-winning author The Lock Artist “Think it is impossible to find a new take on the wise-cracking San Francisco PI? Meet Jake Diamond and think again. Jake and his crew—both the good guys and the bad guys—are sharp and smart, convincing and complex.” —SJ Rozan, Edgar Award-winning author (as Sam Cabot) of Skin of the Wolf