Centaur Standing

2026 Claymore Award Finalist for Best Investigator (includes procedural, serious P.I., detective, and noir)

When disgraced ex‑senator Hunter Beckett is found shot through the heart, Detective Alee Leander is pulled into a politically explosive case. The Beckett family has ruled Altezza for generations, and no one wants their secrets dragged into the light. Then a century‑old skeleton surfaces at the family’s flagship construction project—killed by an antique bullet disturbingly similar to the one that ended Hunter’s life.

As Altezza prepares for its Sesquicentennial celebration, Alee uncovers a hundred years of buried violence, family mythmaking, and carefully curated lies. Every clue ties the present to a past someone has worked very hard to erase.

To solve the murder, Alee must unravel the town’s entire history before another body drops. In a place where everyone knows your name, someone also knows exactly how to break you.