GIMME SHELTER

A former police officer’s returning memory offers both hope and peril.

Layla Virtue’s father, Don, a famous rock musician, recently bought the entire trailer park where she’s been living, but she refuses to let him jump-start her own musical career. Since losing her job as a police officer following a tragically botched operation—she showed up drunk to supervise the takedown of a drug gang, leaving almost her entire team, including her boyfriend, Jacob, dead in an explosion—she’s survived by playing minor gigs and living in the trailer park alongside a wide variety of quirky characters. Her dad had the owner’s cottage completely renovated in an over-the-top storybook manner, and when he’s unexpectedly diagnosed with dementia, Layla commits to living there with him. As she’s beginning to develop a relationship with her neighbor, Nick, a Marine with PTSD, she finds an envelope at her trailer door one morning with a picture of Jacob inside and a note written on the back: “Jacob Is Alive.” Layla has a love-hate relationship with police officer Dayton Castinetto, who still distrusts her even though she recently helped solve a murder case. With help from three new friends she met at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, Layla starts investigating whether Jacob is really alive and could have betrayed the whole team. On top of all that, she’s taken over management of the trailer park and has to deal with unreasonable requests from renters who know how wealthy Don Virtue is. Layla always suspected she wasn’t really drunk during the drug bust but lost some memory in the explosion. Now glimpses of that day are returning, portending big changes in her life—if she survives.

Explorations of addiction and dementia along with many hilarious scenes in a mystery filled with sharp characterizations.