Hard Rain: A Rachel Stern Mystery

by Waverly Fitzgerald

Seattle PI Rachel Stern usually does background checks for women looking for romance, not revolution. But in 1999, she agrees to investigate the past history of Ellie Foley, a Sixties activist who went underground after a violent bank robbery. Quickly obsessed with her mysterious subject, Rachel uncovers dangerous secrets as she interviews people who knew Ellie during those turbulent times, and learns difficult truths about her parents participation in the anti-war movement. When she becomes part of a dangerous deception designed to lure Ellie out of hiding, she enlists the help of her mentor, PI Matt Rossiter, a Vietnam vet who is battling his own demons from that era. Seeking truth, Rachel is plunged into peril—for herself and the people she loves. Waverly Fitzgerald and her long-time collaborator Curt Colbert have introduced a new kind of literary collaboration with parallel novels that share characters and events. Hard Rain by Waverly Fitzgerald focuses on Rachel Stern and the anti-war movement. Curt’s novel, All Along the Watchtower, features Matt Rossiter, a Vietnam vet with PTSD, who is hunting the killer attacking his old platoon members. Certain conversations, dramatic events and colorful characters appear in both novels but each can be read as a satisfying stand alone mystery. Fitzgerald and Colbert are also the authors of the popular Barking Detective mysteries (writing as Waverly Curtis).

238 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 25, 2019

About the author

I'm a writer, teacher and publisher, calendar creator and advocate for slow time.

I've written 14 novels and 9 are published under 3 names. I write humorous mysteries with Curt Colbert under the name Waverly Curtis. I write historical fiction and non-fiction under the name Waverly Fitzgerald. And my historical romances were first published under Nancy Fitzgerald. I occasionally blog for the Seattle PI as the Urban Naturalist. And i write about slow time and seasonal time at my website Living in Season.

I read fiction to learn more about how to write the novels I love, so I am generally reading historical fiction and mysteries. In non-fiction, I like almost anything that teaches me something, with a special emphasis on topics I am writing about in my fiction (Victorian London, the English Civil War) or essays (flowers, family history, walking). And I love memoirs.

Reviews

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, set in 1999 in Seattle, but focused on unraveling a mystery that goes back to the era of the 1960s and 70s. . . Vietnam, the Black Panthers, and both the exuberant and the dark sides of the revolution-that-was-often-televised. Rachel Stern, a young private investigator, discovers a great deal about her own past as a result of her efforts to locate an activist who has been living underground for two+ decades. Saying more would reveal too much! Read it and find out for yourself.

Also note that this book is unusual in being part of a "pair" with Curt Colbert's ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER. Fitzgerald and Colbert are long-time friends and writing partners. Rachel Stern's mentor as a PI is Matt Rossiter, the protagonist in Colbert's book, also set in 1999 and dealing with issues arising from the Vietnam War era. Although each novel stands alone, there are common characters and scenes (told from the point of view of each book's protagonist), and I greatly enjoyed this very inventive and effective collaboration. Be sure to read both books for the full experience.

[Isla McKetta · Rating 5 out of 5]

<3 <3 <3 Waverly.