Construction workers in the San Juan Islands of Washington State discover the body of a man who had disappeared three decades earlier. Threats again haunt investigative journalist Rent Beacham as he turns to the San Diego Herald newspaper archives to dig into the man’s disappearance following a toxic-waste scandal in the wake of the America’s Cup sailing regatta in San Diego, California.

Rent confronts prominent property developer James Michael “Mike” Johnson, the former owner of the San Diego boatyard and whose son-in-law has thrown his hat in the ring to become the next congressman to represent California’s 25th Congressional District, which encompasses California’s Imperial Valley.

Rent exposes the Johnson family’s web of financial ties to ADU construction, hazardous waste disposal, lithium mining, and entities redeveloping a geothermal plant and solar arrays to power an artificial intelligence data center in what the local boosters have dubbed as “Lithium Valley.”

The threats escalate to include the lives of Rent’s loved ones as he connects the dots between the cold case, mysterious hazmat disposal activity, a clownish Congressional campaign, and the murky depths of AI avatars and deepfakes as election day looms.

Further threats and abductions portend a dramatic showdown with ruthless rogues cloaked in a veil of propriety as he closes in on those behind the three-decades-old murder.

Although this is a work of fiction, its inspiration emerged from current events, including the indisputable pitfalls posed by artificial intelligence.

Larry M. Edwards is an award-winning investigative journalist, author, editor, and publishing consultant. He has written six books and has edited more than 500 fiction and nonfiction books.

As a journalist, he has won numerous awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the San Diego Press Club, including four Best of Show honors. As business editor for San Diego Magazine, his reporting fueled the resignations of a corrupt CEO and an ineffective San Diego mayor.

As a nonfiction author, Edwards wrote Dare I Call It Murder?—A Memoir of Violent Loss, which took top honors in the San Diego Book Awards and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. It became a bestseller in Memoir and True Crime categories.

As an editor/publisher, one of his proudest moments came when Murder Survivors Handbook: Real-Life Stories, Tips & Resources by Connie Saindon received the prestigious Benjamin Franklin Gold Award from the Independent Book Publishers Association.

As a musician, he plays fiddle and bass and has composed nearly two dozen melodies.