A Handful of Thorns

Nick Palazzo, a homicide detective from Tillamook, Oregon, returns to New Jersey after ten years for his estranged father's funeral. His father, a former Mafia boss, has been murdered by a bullet to the head while being serviced by a teenage prostitute. Was it a mob hit? The morning after the funeral, the prostitute is found dead in an alley, the victim of a drug overdose. Are the two deaths related?

Nick's mother begs him to solve his father's murder. He is hesitant at first, but his mother insists. As he digs into the case, he learns that everything is not as it seems. He meets the city's beautiful forensics technician, Emily Harper, and together they wade through the clues which lead them to examine the connections between mobsters, a high school guidance counselor, and a local gang leader.

Danger lurks as Nick and Harper get close to the answers they seek. Soon Nick must return to his job in Tillamook, but he is falling in love with Parker. Time is running out and Nick must solve the case and decide what to do about his growing love for the woman of his dreams.