Beneath the Surface: an Ethan Sloan Mystery

When a woman is found murdered in the San Antonio River Walk area, with a cryptic literary message tied to her wrist, Detective Mara Reyes discovers the killing may be connected to once-celebrated novelist Ethan Sloan.

Seven years earlier, Sloan’s career collapsed after a real homicide in Colorado appeared to imitate a murder scene from his bestselling novel Ash Summit. Though never charged, Sloan vanished from public life and became the center of a national controversy.

Now someone has staged another body.

As Mara and Ethan uncover hidden tunnels beneath the city, buried property deals, and long-forgotten connections to Colorado, they realize the murder was designed not simply to kill—but to manipulate the story surrounding it.

Atmospheric, layered, and deeply immersive, Beneath the Surface is a literary noir mystery about memory, reputation, power, and the dangerous narratives people choose to believe.