The Summer of Haight (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781967227051)

A San Francisco attorney becomes convinced his best friend will be murdered by a mysterious hippie out to inherit his wealth.

A HIPPIE NOIR:

What should an attorney do when, out of the blue, his best friend pressures him to draw up a will leaving his entire estate to a no-good hippie? A good-for-nothing hippie no one ever heard of. Investigate! That's what he should do. But his good friend not only rejects this advice but forces the attorney to make a solemn promise never to investigate the cryptic hippie beneficiary under any circumstances - not ever. The attorney finds this absurd. Could it be his friend the victim of some kind of nefarious plot? The situation continues to deteriorate until the attorney doesn't recognize his friend anymore. It's as though some kind of evil spirit has invaded his body. So, he decides to break his promise and follow the rogue hippie on one of his nocturnal escapades into the Haight-Ashbury. The attorney, disturbed by what he witnessed in the Haight - and wanting to save his friend from himself - now becomes obsessed with a single purpose: to unmask the debauched hippie as a provocateur flirting with fraud, blackmail and (it becomes more conceivable by the day!) murder.

The Attorney - mild-mannered, polite, pleasant to be around. But when he becomes convinced his best friend will be murdered by the mysterious hippie, he becomes obsessed with uncovering the hippie's true identity and intentions, throwing all caution and reason to the wind.

The attorney's friend, a Medical Researcher - Sophisticated, erudite, sensitive and empathetic. But turns inexplicably angry and vindictive when he learns the attorney has betrayed his solemn promise not to investigate a certain hippie, the new sole benefactor of his will.

The Hippie - Brooding, mysterious, and dark. He wears colorful hippie garb, but unlike the carefree hippies, his clothing oddly seems to be tailer-made. He grins a lot, but you wonder if it's because he's about to lunge for your throat.