The Dawn Patrol
*Starred Review* San Diego PI Boone Daniels would rather surf than work. While he and his fellow bronzed boarders (known collectively as the Dawn Patrol, for the time of day they hit the waves) may have real jobs, their true MO is to revel in the sun, fun, and shapely babes that populate the coastal town of Pacific Beach. But Boone, alas, is low on cash. So when a beautiful lawyer approaches him about a missing stripper scheduled to testify in an insurance case, he takes the assignment, knowing full well that the swells expected to hit Southern California in the next couple of days will be, well, epic. Soon, the stripper’s best friend is found dead, an apparent suicide, at a seedy motel. Boone knows it can’t be coincidence. A trail of clues leads him into the company of some shady souls, from pedophiles and plastic surgeons to thick-necked Samoan thugs. As Boone gets deeper into the investigation, he wonders whether he can dig himself out in time for high tide. In his latest thriller (after The Winter of Frankie Machine, in 2006), critically acclaimed novelist Winslow writes with panache about the light and dark sides of San Diego and the wave-craving characters that call its celebrated coastline home. --Allison Block