A Soul Defiled: A Bailey Crane Mystery (Bailey Crane #5)

Bailey Crane is thinking long term fun and sun on the Sea of Cortez, but an old friend and HOA president puts those thoughts on hold by enlisting our southern sleuth to help solve a case of missing money and murder.

Bailey is kidnapped twice, beaten twice, and his anger management is nowhere to be found. With the help of Pueblo del Mar's police chief, another old friend, Bailey begins to connect the dots. He meets a most unusual man of intrigue, discovers the intricasies of money laundering in the posh resort communities along the sea, and makes it through to a most bizarre ending. The climax of this mystery leaves Bailey emotionally drained as he contemplates the true essence of friendship and life's strange twists of fate.

It's all here: disloyalty, greed, love, money manipulation, murder. All the action takes place along a most lovely stretch of cobalt sea and an unrelenting desert of cacti, sage, and sand.