[Rachel Stern Mystery 01] • Hard Rain

Seattle PI Rachel Stern usually does background checks for women looking for romance, not revolution. But in 1999, she agrees to investigate the past history of Ellie Foley, a Sixties activist who went underground after a violent bank robbery.

Quickly obsessed with her mysterious subject, Rachel uncovers dangerous secrets as she interviews people who knew Ellie during those turbulent times, and learns difficult truths about her parents participation in the anti-war movement. When she becomes part of a dangerous deception designed to lure Ellie out of hiding, she enlists the help of her mentor, PI Matt Rossiter, a Vietnam vet who is battling his own demons from that era. Seeking truth, Rachel is plunged into peril—for herself and the people she loves.

Waverly Fitzgerald and her long-time collaborator Curt Colbert have introduced a new kind of literary collaboration with parallel novels that share characters and events. Hard Rain by Waverly Fitzgerald focuses on Rachel Stern and the anti-war movement. Curt’s novel, All Along the Watchtower, features Matt Rossiter, a Vietnam vet with PTSD, who is hunting the killer attacking his old platoon members. Certain conversations, dramatic events and colorful characters appear in both novels but each can be read as a satisfying stand alone mystery.

Fitzgerald and Colbert are also the authors of the popular Barking Detective mysteries (writing as Waverly Curtis).