Back during the Vietnam War era two brothers from a quiet coastal Connecticut town clashed. One, a fiery anti-war protester, became a draft dodger in Toronto, Canada, while the other fought in Vietnam. They came to blows at their mother's funeral. What followed was nearly a half-century of stony silence. Late one night Stan, long returned to America and the owner of a bookstore in New Haven, is bludgeoned to death. Hartford PI Rick Van Lam, an Amerasian born in Vietnam, learns that the victim was his partner's brother. But Jimmy Gadowicz hadn't seen his brother in decades-not since that fistfight. Rick insists the two PIs investigate, though Jimmy is skittish. The cops suspect a robbery gone bad, but one bizarre clue suggests Stan knew his killer. Suddenly all the battles of the Vietnam War era-America resurface. The daughter of an old buddy who also fled to Canada is in town-with accusations that her father was murdered, maybe by Stan. She riles everyone-Stan's ex-wife, his boyhood friend, even his old girlfriend, all of whom look back to Toronto and the anti-war protest years as defining moments in their lives. What secrets does she have? What secrets do they have? Does Stan's death connect to those volatile years when they were young, passionate, and fired up by politics.Everyone is running scared. As Rick and Jimmy ask questions, Stan's killer is ready to murder again.
