The Big Bend

The day begins like any other: Terry Rankin, sole proprietor of Rankin Personal Security Services in Orlando, Florida, accepts a private meeting with a potential client. Sheila Adamson is looking for a bodyguard to protect her from her abusive husband, but Rankin refuses to take the job until she begins divorce proceedings. Moments later, Mrs. Adamson is dead and Rankin is buried beneath the rubble of his house, knocked flat by a car bomb planted in the dead woman's Jaguar. When he's questioned by the local police, Rankin learns that Adamson's attorney has also turned up dead, his Cadillac riddled with bullets. Suspecting there is more to these murders than a domestic dispute, he teams up with Orlando cop Cathy Diamond for a thrilling-and treacherous-adventure that will lead them deep into the heart of the Everglades and hot on the trail of a dangerous criminal. In Rankin's sardonic bodyguard-turned-investigator, Gary Showalter has created a new hero for fans of hardboiled mysteries.

Gary Showalter was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. He lived in Aruba, Florida and the Panama Canal zone before joining the U.S. Army during the 1960s. He moved to Israel in 1981, married, and raised four children while working as a furniture maker, silversmith, goldsmith, and ornamental wood turner. He resumed service with the Israel Defense Forces Reserves, and when not on active duty he worked in government and private security. Mr. Showalter currently resides in Silver Springs, Florida.