This Is Life — Seth Harwood

Jack Palms is more interested in tuning up his vintage Mustang than starring in action films these days. Along with his failed marriage and plenty of bad habits, Jack abandoned his acting career three years ago and life's just the way Jack wants it: boring.

But picking up where Jack Wakes Up left off, Jack now finds himself in the middle of a whodunit in the seedy red-light district of San Francisco's North Beach. Young girls, shipped as merchandise from Balkan countries and sold to city heavyweights, are turning up dead and no one knows why. And closer to home, a crooked cop steps out of Jack's past and into his backyard, taking potshots from the bushes at midnight. Sergeant Mills Hopkins, SFPD, thinks someone big is responsible for the bodies and the bullet holes. And if Jack is going to find out who's pulling the triggers, he'll have to forget about the quiet life and act more like an action hero.