Summer of Fear — T. Jefferson Parker

It's a scorching California summer, and cop-turned-crime-writer Russ Monroe has stumbled onto the hottest story of his career. A vicious serial killer is massacring entire families, leaving once-peaceful communities paralyzed with fear.

The police are keeping the murders under wraps, and Monroe has a desperate need to know why. Because he just found the bludgeoned body of the latest victim--his beautiful ex-lover. And because the two men observed at the murder scene have become rivals for the role of prime suspect. One is Laguna Beach's homicide detective. The other is Monroe himself...