By Reason of Privilege

A nine year-old boy is killed by a hit-and-run driver who is under the influence of alcohol and drugs.  Detective Luis Ortiz, the boy's uncle, is assigned to the case and is unable to develop solid evidence against the driver.  His investigation, however, opens the proverbial can of worms and uncovers a world of international heroin smuggling, betrayal and murder, all protected by the thin veil of money.

Read as Luis Ortiz and his former partner, Detective Fred Hodge, expose a drug-smuggling ring operated by Mathew Garcia, an unwitting pawn in a larger, more sinister ring.  

Local, small-time drug users who had thought that they were immune to the law because of their lofty social stations are arrested and the house of cards begins to crumble.  

Rocco Quintana, a thug used by the ring-leaders to do the heavy lifting of drug transport and murder, is ordered to eliminate loose ends as they appear.  The problem is that these frayed ends unravel faster than Quintana can deal with them, placing him at the targeted end of the ring-leader's wrath.

As in my previous two novels, all the characters are real and believable, making this a must-read for the suspense aficionado.