INSTINCT FOR DECEIT is a timely portrayal of the growing plague of moral ambiguity in American culture, and the elusive nature of truth...now viewed as simply a matter of opinion. The setting is California’s Gold Coast of Orange County—where million dollar homes purchased in 1999 numbered nearly eight hundred. Millionaire by age thirty was the credo.

Newport Beach Private Investigator Tom Henry is a tough, tenacious former Marine; he’s also twice divorced, paranoid and a veteran homicide detective fired from the police force. The mysterious bombing of a racing yawl on San Francisco Bay brings widow Suzy Gardiner and Tom Henry together. Henry’s investigation uncovers a tidal wave of multiple murder, adultery and high-level fraud. The perpetrators are master connivers... manipulators of facts, money and people.

Working as a mercenary, former Navy SEAL Eric Felix is a pathological killer, with bloody skills honed in Vietnam. Who hired him to destroy the sailboat and crew, and why? Henry sees possible conspiracy...but, more likely...soliciting murder is the real crime. Before the case comes to a surprising end, protagonist Henry realizes that, caught up in a climate of perfidy and disappointment, nobody has all the answers. Who among us is truly qualified to be policeman, judge, jury and executioner?