Dragon Fruit — Karen Keskinen

Jaymie Zarlin searches for a lost cargo more precious than drugs, diamonds, or gold...

A panga boat lands on a Santa Barbara beach in the night. Drugs are quickly offloaded, but drugs are not all this boat carried. When Chucha Robledo arrives to collect her baby girl, she finds the boat is empty save for a tiny silver medallion. Desperate and fearing the worst, she goes to the only person in town she can trust to find her little girl.

P.I. Jaymie Zarlin's brother died while in police custody, and she knows all too well the pain that comes from the unexplained loss of a loved one. She promises to help Chucha only to find herself plunged into an underworld of deceit, misery, and perversion.

As Jaymie dives deep into the abyss of human trafficking, the local police department pressures her to drop the case. She soon finds herself alone, tracking the most dangerous of criminals. As she struggles to help Chucha, the case brings her closer to uncovering the truth about her own brother's death. In this riveting mystery about loss and love, Jaymie will be forced to choose: what can be jettisoned and what precious cargo must at all costs be saved?