A seaside town. A savage murder. A family bound by secrets that refuse to stay buried.<BR><BR>When beloved Laguna Beach therapist Mary Purefoy is found bludgeoned to death in her oceanfront bungalow, Detective Walt Torrance is assigned the case he never wanted-and cannot walk away from. Mary wasn't just a victim. She was his former sister-in-law, his brother's first great love, and a woman woven into the fabric of his own past.<BR><BR>As Walt combs through a crime scene steeped in rage rather than robbery, the evidence points inward: to Mary's patients, her private life, and the intimate betrayals that only those closest to her could know. With the clock ticking and the town watching, Walt must navigate a maze of grief, memory, and moral compromise-while confronting the unsettling possibility that the killer may be closer than anyone dares to believe.<BR><BR>Set against the sunlit beauty and dark undercurrents of coastal California, Gone at First Light is a gripping, emotionally charged crime novel about love, loyalty, and the devastating cost of secrets kept too long.