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FALSE FRONT
Vera Novak was the best client Doc ever had. She walked in on a Wednesday morning with a folder, a coffee, and a case already her business partner was dead, the police had called it a burglary gone wrong, and she had a suspect — a competitor named Frank Sato who had been running predatory prices to destroy Pacific Rim Imports.
The photographs were clear. The police report was in hand. The motive was documented. Vera had prepared everything before she arrived.
That was the warning Doc didn't read until it was too late.
The loading dock door was forced from the inside. The scattered merchandise was worthless crates — the valuable inventory untouched. The burglary was staged, and Vera knew it was staged, and Vera had a ready explanation for everything. Too ready. The folder was the presentation of a woman who had organized the narrative before the investigation began — a narrative that pointed at Sato and away from everyone else.
Doc takes the case. He always takes the case. He investigates Sato, finds the competitor, follows the money. And somewhere between the warehouse and the truth, he discovers that the client who hired him to find a killer may be the most dangerous person in the room.
The case is called a false front for a reason. The front was Vera. The front was the folder. The front was the client who arrived with all the answers and needed Doc to make them look like questions.
FALSE FRONT is Book Thirteen of the Doc Mysteries — a standalone hardboiled detective novel set in 1970s Los Angeles.
The Doc Each case stands alone. Start anywhere.
The photographs were clear. The police report was in hand. The motive was documented. Vera had prepared everything before she arrived.
That was the warning Doc didn't read until it was too late.
The loading dock door was forced from the inside. The scattered merchandise was worthless crates — the valuable inventory untouched. The burglary was staged, and Vera knew it was staged, and Vera had a ready explanation for everything. Too ready. The folder was the presentation of a woman who had organized the narrative before the investigation began — a narrative that pointed at Sato and away from everyone else.
Doc takes the case. He always takes the case. He investigates Sato, finds the competitor, follows the money. And somewhere between the warehouse and the truth, he discovers that the client who hired him to find a killer may be the most dangerous person in the room.
The case is called a false front for a reason. The front was Vera. The front was the folder. The front was the client who arrived with all the answers and needed Doc to make them look like questions.
FALSE FRONT is Book Thirteen of the Doc Mysteries — a standalone hardboiled detective novel set in 1970s Los Angeles.
The Doc Each case stands alone. Start anywhere.
78 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 29, 2026
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