Years after his wife dies in a mafia hit gone wrong, Garrison Gage finally pieces together a life for himself in the Oregon coastal town of Barnacle Bluffs. Some days the cranky private investigator with the bum knee and the caustic wit could even call himself content. Maybe even happy. But marrying again? Never.

Yet not long after quirky Rita Rodriguez enters the scene, Gage can't imagine life without her. Unfortunately, when dark secrets violently emerge—involving first loves, tragic loss, and, strangest of all, a Spanish galleon that sunk in 1642 loaded with treasure—their relationship enters turbulent waters.

Worse, the same deadly undertow that drags Gage into the darkness also threatens everyone around him. His friends. His enemies. Even the town itself . . .