Brandon Blake

This first book in a new series is set in and around the Portland, Maine, waterfront. It introduces Brandon Blake, a loner who lives on his old wooden cruiser. Raised by his alcoholic grandmother after his mother was lost at sea, Blake learned to depend on himself. During an assignment for a law-enforcement class, Blake gets involved in a fight and is marked for payback by a soon-to-be-released convict. Meanwhile, questions surface about his mother's disappearance.

Brandon Blake, the tough and resourceful kid from the Portland waterfront, has made it. He's been hired by the Portland Police Department, partly as payback for stopping a vicious cop killer in Port City Shakedown. But the newest rookie on the night shift isn't pulling any punches. And when a drug-addled mom can't find her baby, Blake - whose mother left him and was killed when he was a toddler - comes down on her hard. Except the baby really is gone.