Skin Game (Subtle Deceptions)

Gabriel Karne is cautiously optimistic. Life seems to be settling down into a nice even keel.

It's a new year and the former con artist has a permanent-for-now address. No more rickety sailboats and living out of go-bags for Gabriel Karne. No surprises. No dead bodies.

Romance-wise, he and Ranger Man are easing into being a couple. A lifetime of habits is hard to break for both of them, but they're getting there.

Gabe even has a job. Will he regret agreeing to it? Probably but it's almost legal, so baby steps.


Then a strange young woman claiming to be his long-lost daughter appears on his new doorstep, and she has some sketchy documentation to prove it. It's not impossible, but Gabe wasn't born yesterday, and Heidi Karne was his mother, after all.

And another damn letter-this one from a stranger-shows up. The author claims to be a friend of Heidi's and to have some of his late mother's belongings. Just great.

It's pretty clear that the past isn't done with him yet.

It will be fine. Everything will be fine.


Skin Game is the third installment in ex-grifter Gabriel Karne's pursuit of nearly-legal happiness among the denizens of Heartstone Island and features: small-town mystery, amateur sleuthing, found family, quirky side characters and questionable decisions.