Casey Barrett Bücher

Unlicensed P.I. Duck Darley has found a comfortable niche above the streets of Manhattan. But a desperate text from Cass Kimball, the partner Duck once took a bullet to protect, lures him back into sworn-off vices and the sinister world of professional sports . . . Cass cries murder after her boyfriend tumbles to his death in the Catskills while researching the history of sports doping in East Germany during the Cold War. Following the brutal killing of a champion javelin thrower, Cass herself is arrested on charges of double homicide, leaving Duck on an impossible quest for answers. Caught between the illicit underbelly of competitive sports and the shadowy criminals stalking him, it’s sink or swim as Duck stumbles through a reckless investigation that endangers both his life and that of anyone he allows himself to hold dear. “Here be the beginnings of a superb series.”—Ken Bruen on Under Water

Once a competitive swimmer destined for Olympic gold, Duck Darley is now barely scraping by as an unlicensed PI, chasing down cheating spouses for the same Manhattan elite who once viewed him as equal . . .Duck's lost glory days resurface when he's hired to track down the teenaged sister of a former teammate turned Olympic champion. Privileged Madeline McKay vanished over Labor Day weekend, leaving behind a too-perfect West Village apartment and a promising athletic career of her own. Duck thinks he's hunting for a self-destructive runaway--until Madeline's film student ex is savagely murdered, and the media spins her as the psycho who killed him.As Duck searches for Madeline, he's plunged back into the dark underbelly of Olympic swimming--a world rife with wild lies and terrible violence. And he soon learns that no matter how hard he tries to escape his past, demons still lurk beneath every surface . . . "A novel that sparkles with wit, sass, and wonderful narrative style."--Ken Bruen "Deliciously lascivious and violent . . . the pull of his dark world will keep readers captivated to the last page."--Kyle Mills