Vigilante Blues

Sandeen has been living the quiet life—with no drama and no strife—until an old acquaintance shows up with an invitation to his 30-year high school reunion. Al Worthington says he wants Sandeen to meet and greet old friends and classmates—and then help solve the mysterious disappearance of Grace Goodman, a member of their high school class. Ignoring his misgivings, Sandeen agrees, and returns to a town and a past he'd tried to forget.
Initially, the task looks hopeless. Whatever—or whoever—caused Grace Goodman to disappear has left no evidence. As Sandeen digs deeper, he learns that Grace had been conducting an investigation on her own in an attempt to learn the secrets of an earlier disappearance. When Sandeen, Al Worthington, and Grace Goodman had all been juniors at Eastmoreland High School, Mr. Brannick, the band teacher, had stopped coming to work in the middle of the spring semester. There were no answers then, and thirty-one years later, no answers forthcoming.
When the investigation all but grinds to a halt, a second problem surfaces. Dr. Kathryn Aptekar, a college professor and one of Sandeen's ex-lovers, becomes the target of an arsonist, and then a bullet, as an old enemy decides to first teach Kathryn a 'lesson' and when he thinks she's suffered enough, kill her. Trying to keep his priorities straight, Sandeen attempts to investigate Kathryn's dilemma, stay within the boundaries of his rights and responsibilities as a journalist, and somehow, keep her alive.
None of this makes Amanda Carter, Sandeen's current gal pal and main squeeze, even a little bit happy. She isn't thrilled when he risks his life searching for Grace Goodman. She's a lot less thrilled when he tries to help Kathryn Aptekar, worried that he might not object to rekindling an old flame.
Ripping away at old wounds has always gotten Sandeen in trouble, but his insistence on finding and telling the truth may be pushing his luck further than it's meant to stretch. In yet another high-octane thriller, bullets will fly, people will die, and old secrets will be exposed painfully as Sandeen occasionally skirts the letter of the law in order to bring justice to the forgotten.