Restoration

Northville, Illinois homicide detective Dan Gold has reached his fiftieth birthday. He's glum and instead of a celebration is dragged by his younger partner, Xander Nicholson, to that most dreaded of places . . . the gym! But muscle strains aren't the only danger at the gym. Charismatic Xander's gym friend Isabella is found brutally murdered in her own apartment, and suddenly his world is thrown into confusion. At first, it appears certain sweet Isabella is the victim of a serial rapist. But the obvious is not so obvious. Was she actually a participant in a criminal scheme that went bad? Xander does not believe this, and as a result has to work tirelessly to not only find her killer but restore her good name. In that light, he finds himself in the strange and bizarre world of . . . collector comic books. Not only is the world alien to the two detectives, but to their shock it's a six figure business with major players . . . and apparently, Isabella was one of them. Dan and Xander have to learn fast about this strange world to not only restore Isabella's name and find her killer, but stop the killings that suddenly accelerate as they close in on the truth.