Publisher's Synopsis
Most cops regard gumshoes as a lower life form, on a par with defense attorneys, politicians, or their brethren working internal affairs. They view them as meddlers that press for information, ask for favors like they're entitled, and in general have a knack for mucking up an investigation. So when Gus Engstrom, a retired small town cop now living in Tucson, gets asked by his younger FBI brother, Jason Engstrom, to take out a PI license, the brother adding insult to injury by saying he sees it as a step up, it sets off a small explosion. The dig was meant in fun, but the reason behind the request was deadly serious. The brother, now in his prime as chief of the Phoenix office, wants Gus to go undercover to scope out Medicare fraud at Shady Acres, a major health care complex. Jason wants Gus licensed so that he can affiliate with and access the resources of Maestras Confidential Investigation, the foremost private investigative agency in Arizona. In retirement, Gus has hooked up with three kindred spirits, Harley riding misfits, early 60's and counting backwards, who call themselves the Merry Marauders. Gus agrees to the assignment on the condition that he can enlist Jerry Hunter, a fellow Marauder and a former Special Forces Marine, to partner with him. After securing their PI licenses, the pair go undercover posing as two wacky health care supply salesmen. False starts and re-groupings follow as they scope out the enemy terrain and cultivate a string of informants. As the investigation proceeds, they confront mounting evidence that there are more deadly games than fraud being played by the miscreants of Shady Acres. Shady Acres is the first in a series of detective novels featuring these four part-time PI's who call themselves the Merry Marauders. In Shady Acres they form Engstrom and Associates and rent their own PI office that doubles as their Marauder clubhouse, which is to say their adult playpen and man cave. Later novels in this series are Joyride to Hellhole, Justice for Angela, and The Revenge Dance.
