High Fall

Dunlap's forensic pathologist-turned private eye, Kiernan O'Shaughnessy, is a fiesty loner with a tender streak. In this second appearance her nostalgic trip to the San Diego bluffs to watch a young woman perform a movie stunt "gag" made famous by Kiernan's childhood idol, gymnast Greg Gaige, ends in disaster - the ambitious stunt woman's death. Kiernan, puzzled by a few details, refuses to believe it's an accident. Her investigation takes her into the ruthless and precarious business of movie-making and the peculiar world of stunt people. As she digs into the secrets of a has-been director dogged by "bad luck" which all began with Gaige's grisly death by fire on the set, Kiernan finds herself confronting the demons of her own past as well. A well-written page turner with snappy dialogue and an appealing heroine.