In the village of Fairhaven—nestled between Washington state's Bellingham Bay and the Cascade Mountains, home to writers' retreat Pines & Quill,—friends and family have gathered for the union of Sean McPherson and Emma Benton. Sean has been working with the FBI and local police to help solve crimes, particularly murders bearing the mark of crime boss Georgio "The Bull" Gambino. Emma, who has just learned to walk again, has begun to feel at home and hopes to one day raise a family.But just as the festivities begin and corks fly, an explosion shatters everything, killing one and injuring others. From Bellingham to San Francisco and New Orleans, the chase is on to discover who's dead set on ensuring the newlyweds don't live happily ever after. The writers currently in residence at Pines & Quill include a vineyard owner, a Bryn Mawr College professor, a special education teacher accompanied by her seeing-eye dog, and an intuitive who can't—or...

Burdened by the pressing weight of survivor's guilt, Sean McPherson, an ex-cop, is desperate for redemption. At Pines & Quill, a writer's retreat in the Pacific Northwest, he and his fiancée, Emma Benton, are planning their lives together. He wants to go back into law enforcement. She plans to walk again.Georgio "The Bull" Gambino, head of a Seattle-based crime family, has a long reach. Like cockroaches, his minions infiltrate even the most inaccessible of places to do his bidding. With Seattle to the south, the Canadian border a stone's throw to the north, and Bellingham Bay—a gateway to the Pacific Ocean—immediately to the west, Bellingham is the ideal location for the Gambino crime family to traffic drugs, weapons, and humans. But McPherson's in Gambino's way, which means he must be eliminated.The writers in residence at Pines & Quill include an Afghanistan War veteran, a professional photographer, a civil rights attorney, and a gourmet chef. But...

When a sniper killed his partner, Sean McPherson was injured in the ambush. Now an ex-cop, he takes a job at a writing retreat in the Pacific Northwest. At Pines & Quill, he hopes, he'll heal and put his life back together in the Zen-like capacity of groundskeeper and all-around handyman.Sniper Jason Hughes, meanwhile, blames McPherson for the loss of more than 10 million dollars' worth of heroin—and he wants revenge. In the guise of a New York City limo driver working on a sizzling tell-all memoir, Hughes arrives at Pines & Quill along with three other writers-in-residence: a bohemian psychic taking a break from grueling work as a forensic intuitive, a bitter divorcée who wants to open herself to a new life, and a vibrant and resilient potter navigating life in a wheelchair.With all the conflicting agendas, uncertain loyalties, and romantic entanglements at play, Hughes finds it difficult to get McPherson in his sights. Original designs thwarted, he forms a...