When the body of a young, black Navy lieutenant is found chained inside the boiler of a mothballed battleship in a Philadelphia shipyard, there is no question that it's murder. Stung by past scandals, the Navy moves to control the investigation by appointing one of their own, Commander Dan Collins, in charge of it. Dan's deputy investigator will be civilian Grace Ellen Snow from the NIS (Naval Investigative Service), the organization that should have been in control of the investigation. Dan and Grace make a connection between this murder, the death of the man's sister (also a Navy lieutenant), and a top Naval officer only to have the chain-of-command curtain come down around their investigation. Convinced they can uncover those responsible for the murders, they secretly continue their investigation - a search that brings them to the attention of a cunning, remorseless, and relentless man.
Peter T. Deutermann
(P.T. Deutermann)
Peter Deutermann was born in Boston in 1941. His father was in the Navy, so he subsequently lived all over the United States and also in Argentina. He graduated from the naval academy in 1963 and served in the navy for 26 years, rising to the rank of Captain. While in the navy, he published one textbook on naval operations and several professional articles in navy-oriented journals. He held three commands: a Swiftboat in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam, a guided missile destroyer in the Atlantic Fleet, and a destroyer squadron based in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. His last tour of duty was as the division director for chemical, biological, and radiological weapons arms control negotiations on the staff of the Joint Chiefs in Washington, DC.
He retired from active duty in 1989 and began his fiction-writing career. He has published fourteen novels since 1992, all with St. Martins Press, including the just-released World War II navy novel, entitled Pacific Glory. He is currently working on his next book, a thriller set at the historic mountain fortress of Masada in Israel.
In addition to a BS in naval engineering, Mr. Deutermann holds an MA in public administration from the University of Washington. He is also a Member of the Royal College of Defence Studies in London. He is married and has two children. Mr. Deutermann and his wife of 42 years live in Rockingham County, in the Piedmont of North Carolina, on their family pony farm.
