East Beach — Ron Ely

Welcome back to Jake Sands, a fortysomething retiree from a high-risk, high-action life - a hero worthy of the proud tradition set by the likes of Philip Marlowe and Travis McGee. With the double murder of his wife and child, Jake gave up his lucrative career as a "recoverer" of stolen or missing objects - and people. Escaping his past ties to Los Angeles, Jake has moved to Santa Barbara, where he has "dropped out," spending his days trying to avoid past friends and future decisions, and his nights awake with his memories. But Jake is a man who just can't seem to stay retired. When Julie Price, his favorite waitress and beach volleyball groupie, turns up dead, he ventures into the high-stakes East Beach volleyball culture to get an inside look at her friends and her life. Reluctantly, he trades in his jogging sweats for neon shorts and soon finds himself matched against the king of the beach, Collin Fraser, an Australian who is as popular with the women as he is ruthlessly cruel. Adding spice to the game are a loose $40 million, which has yet to be claimed, and a string of prominent businessmen who seem to have trouble staying alive. In the sun-bleached heat of East Beach, Jake discovers there is a deadly undercurrent as he gets closer to finding answers - someone is after him.