Private investigator Jason Wilder has the toughest boss in River It's his mother. She and her husband were legendary police detectives when Jason was growing up. Wild Bill Wilder has since died, and Mom is running the detective agency they had founded with a loving but definitely iron hand. Working under Mom (also known by her staff as "Queen Victoria" and "Her Highness") is adventurous, no denying that. Jason's present assignment, to locate a missing businessman, leads to some unexpected surprises. He locates the man in a dreary motel, with orders to return him to his worried wife. Instead, the man shoots at him. Before he can recover from the attempt, he is surrounded by police, who punch him, handcuff him, and inform him that his subject is wanted for homicide. From there the case expands, plunging Jason into some twisted bypaths. Why are the members of the suspect's family (including his enchanting sister) fighting tooth and nail over a dilapidated movie house the sister is restoring? Why was the dead man's body found just outside it? Is there something hidden there—-and what? With Jason doing the footwork and Mom supplying the know-how, they get dangerously close, and Mom is going to have to take a hand herself.

Jason Wilder was wounded in his last encounter with the bad guys, but he's back on the job and ready for another run-in. He's just about to close up the private investigation office owned by his mother, Victoria, for the night, when an elderly man enters. His name is Elijah Messenger and he says someone is trying to kill him. Jason gives him a polite brush-off, but the next morning he learns that the old man has indeed been murdered. It's a morning full of trouble. The mayor arrives asking Victoria for help. His daughter has become involved with a group of "devil worshippers" and he wants her pried loose. When Mom learns that the group was from Messenger's church, she turns the case over to Jason, but, as always, keeps out a maternal eye. Investigating the case forces Jason to juggle two relationships: a loving one with a beautiful single mother and a less-than-civil one with Police Officer Lori Banks, also referred to as "the Beast." If he can do that and avoid any more knife wounds, he'll be in good shape. Michael Siverling offers another exciting private-eye novel, filled with the unique characters and stellar writing of his debut.