No Dice: A Detective Dave Mason Mystery Book I - Paperback

by Mar Preston (Author)

Billions of dollars in potential casino profits can turn the nicest people ugly. Even in an upscale beach city like Santa Monica A gaming goliath is steamrolling local opposition and build a glitzy high-rise casino on the shoreline. A real whodunit confronts Santa Monica Police Department homicide detective Dave Mason when a crucial city councilwoman is murdered on the eve of the vote bringing the casino one step closer. The dance between politics, money, and big ideas that change the landscape draw Mason in, taking his attention away from his daughter's bullying, and his impending divorce. He struggles against his attraction toward the witness, the community organizer leader of the oppposition campaign. She must prove her innocence in a murder she didn't commit. She must also live with the knowledge that the real killer--probably someone she knows--is hunting her. Mason struggles to keep his mind on this baffling case with way too many suspects with no alibis, while his own life unravels, and the activist he's trying to protect keeps interfering, embarrassing him by turning up legitimate leads of her own. The focus of the investigation lands on the money people: real estate developers, PR flacks, the hotels, the politicians and their dark shenanigans. An explosive secret boils up from Santa Monica's seamy past that the casino interests cannot suppress.

Author Biography

Mar Preston was a political insider during Santa Monica's rent control and living wage wars. An avid student of the city's changing urban landscape, is a student of the dance between politics, money, real estate and the old-fashioned land grab. A second novel featuring Detective Dave Mason of the Santa Monica Police Department will be released in 2011. She has completed a third murder mystery set in a California mountain village where she lives and hikes the mountain paths with her dog Lily. Mar Preston works as an editor, teaches creative writing and memoir workshops.