Gil Rodrigues is a private eye who investigates insurance fraud in Southern California. An affable -- if world weary widower -- he lives with his cat and enjoys a relatively quiet life.
All that changes when a good friend, David Chang, is murdered in a way that suggests a professional hit and Gil is asked by David’s family to investigate the murder.
Gil is sometimes helped and sometimes hindered by police detectives who don’t much care for a private eye meddling in what they believe to be their exclusive investigation. A Lieutenant Hara, a friend of Gil’s, is one such sometime ally, sometime adversary. As Gil uncovers one clue after another, leading him to believe that he is hot on the trail of David’s killer, he must also remain on Hara’s good side.
When he learns that his own life is in danger Gil is tempted to quit the case. When, however, he and his mistress Diana, who happens to be the victim’s sister, find themselves suspects in the murder, Gil is forced to go all out to find the killer and exact a diabolical revenge – something he does with relish.
“…a sophisticated murder mystery with a sub-plot of industrial espionage and decidedly a must-read for lovers of the private eye genre.” - South Coast Media Services
THE EXAMINED LIFE is one of those small gems that deserves to be dug out of the thousands of books published each year.” - Crime Spree Magazine
The Examined Life, By Virgil Jose