James C. Cornwallis

Some crimes don't start with violence. They start with secrets.

James Cornwallis is building something fragile in the back of a garage: a life, a career, and a sense of purpose stitched together from discipline, cannabis smoke, and sleepless nights. Alongside Nadi Ruiz, a poet with a librarian's precision, and Reggie Holloway, a teenage tech genius barely holding his own chaos in check, James takes on small cases-until one finally changes everything.

A murdered barista. A hidden ledger of affairs. A blackmail ring operating on whispered promises and stolen moments. As the investigation deepens, the team is forced to confront the blurred lines between consent and coercion, love and control, justice and revenge. Every step forward pulls them closer to danger-and closer to understanding themselves.

Set against the grit of a late-90s city with no smartphones, no shortcuts, and no safety nets, this novel delivers tense action, dark humor, and emotional depth. It's a story about beginnings forged under pressure, about the violence we avoid and the truths we refuse to, and about a young investigator learning that surviving the case is only half the battle.

The garage doors are open. The city is waiting.