A Jeff Taylor Mystery Series

Jeff Taylor takes a summer internship in Sacramento before his third year of medical school. An octogenarian—conveying a saintly countenance, and suffering from late-stage dementia—wanders into Jeff's office. After he is ushered away by a friend, Jeff discovers the man's wallet on the carpet. It contains a baggy full of gold dust. An expired driver's license identifies the wallet's owner as Clyde Whitney, legendary inventor of satellite weather technology. Two decades ago, he shifted his life's focus to recovering gold unearthed during California's Gold Rush of 1849, specks too miniscule to retrieve via the techniques of the era. Clyde always worked alone. No one knows how much gold he accumulated or where it is stored—although several people are on the hunt. Also in the wallet is a phone number, which is answered by Karen Brady, Clyde Whitney's granddaughter. Jeff returns the wallet to her and quickly becomes smitten with Karen. Thus begins Jeff's journey into the peculiar—at times, violent—orbit of the Whitney family.

Perusing a local newspaper, Jeff Taylor reads about the death of a famous water skier, Brett Boyd, who lived at an exclusive high-country enclave known as Sky Lake. Brett and Jeff were close childhood friends but they hadn't communicated in years. Jeff didn't even know his old friend lived in the area. In a kind of pilgrimage, Jeff drives to secluded Sky Lake and locates Brett's cabin. A man with a gun arrives in a battery-powered cart and tells Jeff to get lost. Thus begins Jeff's suspicions about the death of his high school friend. Within a month, three other water skiers are killed. Jeff devotes himself to catching the murderer. Along the way, he tangles with the darkness that resides beneath the region's glorious facade.