Art historian Abi Vickers has hit the proverbial wall. Her husband ran off with his secretary, leaving Abi in financial ruin from his bad investments. Her galleries, her reputation, her apartment in Boston’s toney South End have been ripped from her life by an unforgiving legal system. When an old mentor offers her a temporary job and the use of his cottage overlooking Cape Cod Bay, she hopes the sun-drenched scenery that inspired artist Edward Hopper will help pull her life back together. As she leaves Boston for the windswept cliffs of Truro, she looks forward to calm days, spectacular sunsets, and the mind-cleansing practice of Zen archery. But her hope for tranquility is soon shattered when she learns that a historic aviation event is about to be reenacted practically on her doorstep. Suddenly, instead of finding sanity, Abi wonders if she’s going insane—especially when she starts seeing shadows moving across the star-speckled night sky. Only after she discovers a deadly WWII secret in a long-lost Hopper sketch does she realize the troubles that plagued her in Boston were child’s play compared to the dangers she’s about to face: From the deadly cat-and-mouse game she must play with hired killers on the Nantucket ferry, to the threats that seem to emanate from an old barn near a fortress-like abandoned mansion. Even with the help of a small town police officer dealing with his own personal baggage, and a German journalist who is not what he appears to be, Abi must tap into intellectual and physical resources she never knew she possessed if she wants to survive.

“Absolutely the best private-eye mystery I’ve read. I can’t wait for the next one.”— Clive Cussler Aristotle Plato (“Soc”) Socarides has got a business card as unusual as his name: he’s a private investigator, a diver, and a fisherman operating out of Cape Cod. But he’s definitely got the perfect resume when the owners of a marine park desperately need someone to prove that a suspect is innocent of murder—the suspect being Rocky, a ten-ton killer whale who’s the park’s star attraction. Soc goes undercover as an employee at the Oceanus Aquatic Park, which has been closed to the public since the death of animal trainer Eddy Byron. Picketed by animal rights groups and beset by sensationalist publicity, Oceanus no longer looks so attractive to the Japanese conglomerate that’s been eager to buy it. Soc’s employer’s, the owners of the park, want him to quickly clear the whale of suspicion, get to the bottom of why Eddy Byron died, and help convince the Japanese to close the deal. Easier said than done. Eddy Byron turns out to have been an unpleasant fellow, a heavy drinker who used outdated and cruel methods to train his animals. When another former employee dies hours before a scheduled meeting with Soc, it becomes evident that if Rocky’s the killer, he’s got a two-legged assistant on land. With a beautiful dolphin trainer assisting him in the water and out, Soc learns a few lessons—some quite painful—about the creatures of the sea and the people who care for them. “Former newsman Kemprecos delivers the where, why, what, when, and finally who in a whodunit strengthened by gritty dialogue and assured depictions of suspenseful dives.”—Boston Herald **

The shiny new charter fishing boat financed with family money was supposed to launch a bright new career for Cape Cod fisherman, diver, and private investigator Aristotle "Soc" Socarides. But when the slip of a beer-oiled tongue brings the ire of a Russian KGB mogul down on his head, Soc finds himself drowning in a sea of troubles. As he looks for a foothold on the sandy shores of Nantucket Island, Soc discovers more than he ever bargained for: a deranged homicide suspect who thinks he's Captain Ahab and Soc is his first mate Starbuck; a high-seas case of murder and cannibalism that still stirs up emotions; a Cold War secret; a missing whaling artifact with a bloody history; and cutting-edge underwater technology with deadly potential. As he gropes his way through the Nantucket fog that shrouds the lonely moors and beaches, Soc will soon discover that "the little, grey lady of the sea," has a dark side the tourists never view, and that a single misstep can be fatal.

When robotics engineer and ex-Navy SEAL Matinicus “Matt” Hawkins gets a call asking him to survey a shipwreck off the coast of Spain, he jumps at the chance to dive on what may be an intact Minoan vessel, a discovery long considered the Holy Grail of underwater archeology. The find could rip the covers off the mysterious civilization that flourished thousands of years ago on the island of Crete.

But as he descends in his submersible to the ocean bottom with Greek archeologist Kalliste Kalchis, Hawkins soon learns that an invisible No Trespassing sign has been posted on the wreck and violators will be killed. Sinister forces quickly make it clear they will do anything to retrieve the ancient Linear A scroll and translating device he brings up from the deep.

Realizing he is in over his head in more ways than one, Hawkins pulls together the team that backed him up in Afghanistan on the search for an emerald scepter: ex-wife Abby, who heads a global logistics corporation; Navy SEAL comrade and security expert Calvin Hayes, and Molly Sutherland, a computer whiz with a chip on her shoulder.

Hawkins will need all the help he can get as he finds himself in the sights of the Way of the Axe, a bloody cult that will do anything to keep its existence secret. Complicating his investigation are the machinations of a bizarre cast of characters: Viktor Salazar, the CEO of a rapacious mineral corporation who’s conspiring to destroy a promising new technology that could wean the world off of fossil fuels. Leonidas, the shape-shifting killer who can change his identity, and allegiances, with the swiftness of a chameleon. Lily Porter, the glamorous producer of an oddball reality show, who is not what she seems.

Even with back-up from his friends, Hawkins will have to use all his mental and physical resources to escape from the clone-like men in black with the blue-painted scalps, figure out how to get into a castle to rescue Kalliste from her long-fated death in the labyrinth, and outwit the monster guardian of the maze known as the Minotaur.