Hunting Sunset, by Nathan Thompson

January 1950. The war is cold. The hunt is heated. And battlelines score San Diego’s sunny shores.

Val McCrary—an atypical and unmoored Marine veteran—has an eye for the enemy and an itch to scratch, having missed the boat on heroism.

Val’s old pal pulls him into the orbit of Starla “the Black Widow” Cole, who runs San Diego’s rackets with a velvet fist and backs LA kingpin Jack Dragna in the Battle of the Sunset Strip. Getting close to her means getting entangled in everything she touches—including Annie Moffit, one of Starla’s working girls whose magnetism leaves Val disarmed.

But this crew deals in more than the typical rackets. And Hoover’s FBI chases communist ghosts with every shadow. They’re sniffing at the outfit’s money trail for defense-contractor turncoats and stolen aerospace secrets.

As suspicions lurk, bullets fly and allegiances splinter, Val must take careful aim. Although he scrutinizes his surroundings to excess, one thing he’s never done is question orders…

The first Val McCrary novel. For readers who like their heroes dented, history sharp and loyalties complicated.