The King of Round Valley

Book excerpt: The King of Round Valley begins where Sunset Hill ended, at the Pacific Point winery on the scenic California North Coast.Reeling from the tragedy in Sunset Hill, Detective Grant Starr buys a $2 million winery, thinking he's through with police work. After a year, his life has become routine, and the past finally begins to fade away.Then a body shows up on a picnic table behind his winery. When the badly beaten corpse doesn't garner much attention from the local sheriff's office, Grant wants to know why.He learns that nasty things are going on in a remote mountain area called Round Valley: sex parties involving cops and their wives, drugs, extortion, intimidation, and murder. At first Grant is content to let the few good local cops handle the mess because, hey, he's not a cop anymore. But when he's threatened and told to butt out, he decides to go all in.Detectives Ralph Bensen and Bill Hanks, Grant's pals from the Modesto Police Department, stop by to try and persuade Grant to return to Modesto, but end up staying to help him thwart the man who calls himself the king of Round Valley.The King of Round Valley is a story rife with greed, lust, an insatiable appetite for power, murder, savagery, loyalty, and friendship. As is typical of Powers's stories, you'll also find humor, entertaining dialogue, interesting characters, and, of course, a 1970 Ferrari Daytona.Everett Powers is the author of three previous Grant Starr novels, The Mighty T, Death of a Matador, and Sunset Hill, and the horror novel Canals. Connect with him online at www.everettpowers.com.