[Joe DeMarco 04] • House Secrets

"It all begins with an assignment from the Speaker, John Fitzpatrick Mahoney, Joe DeMarco's wily hard-drinking boss. One of Mahoney's old colleagues has doubts about the accidental death of his son, a mediocre newspaper reporter who, in the days before his death, had claimed that he had a lead on the biggest political scandal since Watergate. But he always said things like that and nothing ever panned out. To appease his old friend, Mahoney wants DeMarco to turn over some rocks around Washington and see what crawls out from under them." "It turns out the reporter was on the trail of Senator Paul Morelli, the handsome and gifted rising star from New York, considered a shoo-in for his party's presidential nomination. Some politicians are lucky, and Morelli has been luckier than most, but his past has already been scrutinized and he looks clean. It seems like there's nothing for DeMarco to do. But then, why is he being followed by a pair of thugs who freelance for the CIA?" Dirty secrets, beltway politics, and divided loyalties threaten as DeMarco's investigation spirals dangerously out of control. Intelligence operatives, a sinister chief of staff, mobsters, and characters from DeMarco's past all play a role as he tries to find out the truth and do the right thing.