Author: Max Tomlinson
Narrator: Margy Stein
Series: Colleen Hayes (Book 3)
Publication: Oceanview Publishing (November 22, 2021)
I bought the Kindle copy July 26, 2022, and the audiobook odd-on July 3, 2026. You can buy your copy here.
Series: Colleen Hayes (Book 3)
Publication: Oceanview Publishing (November 22, 2021)
Length: 9 hours and 12 minutes
Description: 1978 San Francisco - a cult leader in Ecuador - one woman’s struggle to reconnect with her lost daughter before it is too late.
When PI and ex-con, Colleen Hayes, learns that a local neo-Nazi group is talking about shooting the mayor, she thinks it’s just another rumor - until her source, a humble street newspaper vendor, winds up in SF General, beaten to a pulp.
To add to her grief, she discovers that her runaway daughter, Pamela, might have joined a shadowy religious group, building a church in South America near a volcano that is about to erupt. Death is the path to perfection according to the charismatic young preacher - and the date is fast approaching.
Colleen is desperate to find a way to stop her daughter from making the ultimate mistake before she - along with hundreds of others - lose their lives.
My Thoughts: Colleen Hayes, ex-con and current PI, is looking for her daughter Pamela in 1978 San Francisco. She and her daughter have had a bad relationship ever since Colleen killed her ex-husband who was abusing Pamela and spent nine years in prison.
Description: 1978 San Francisco - a cult leader in Ecuador - one woman’s struggle to reconnect with her lost daughter before it is too late.
When PI and ex-con, Colleen Hayes, learns that a local neo-Nazi group is talking about shooting the mayor, she thinks it’s just another rumor - until her source, a humble street newspaper vendor, winds up in SF General, beaten to a pulp.
To add to her grief, she discovers that her runaway daughter, Pamela, might have joined a shadowy religious group, building a church in South America near a volcano that is about to erupt. Death is the path to perfection according to the charismatic young preacher - and the date is fast approaching.
Colleen is desperate to find a way to stop her daughter from making the ultimate mistake before she - along with hundreds of others - lose their lives.
My Thoughts: Colleen Hayes, ex-con and current PI, is looking for her daughter Pamela in 1978 San Francisco. She and her daughter have had a bad relationship ever since Colleen killed her ex-husband who was abusing Pamela and spent nine years in prison.
Pamela is the sort of young woman who falls for every sort of cult that is available to her. After leaving a cult most known for dealing drugs, she has fallen into a suicide cult heading for a Jonestown-like solution.
While Colleen is searching for Pamela, she uncovers a plot to kill the mayor which she is eager to pass on to the cops who don't seem to do anything about it. Colleen's investigations also take her into neo-Nazi territory where she attends a rally with a member of a biker gang who might have information about Pamela's whereabouts.
A trip to Ecuador to rescue her daughter from her latest folly is also a part of this story. She finds a pregnant Pamela and brings her back to San Francisco where they can work on their relationship if Colleen can keep them both alive.
I enjoyed this mystery both for its strong main character and for the setting. San Francisco in the 1970s is set out in great detail for the reader.
I bought the Kindle copy July 26, 2022, and the audiobook odd-on July 3, 2026. You can buy your copy here.


















