Ambrose "Bitter" Bierce, San Francisco's infamous and legendary newspaperman and sometime sleuth is hardly surprised to be hired by William Randolph Hearst when his mistress receives threats.

In steamy Sausalito, the playground of the rich and famous across the bay, Hearst's isn't the only case on the boil. While Ambrose and his sidekick, Tom Redmond, hunt the killer of a hard-partying yachtsman, Tom becomes entangled with the queen of the Portuguese Pentecostal feast. When Hearst's house photographer turns up dead Ambrose faces a web of murder and mystery.

Author Biography: Oakley Hall is the author of more than twenty works of fiction, including several hard-boiled crime novels published under the penname Jason Manor. Hall was professor of English and director of programs in writing at the University of California at Irvine for twenty years.