Meet SIMON

Detective Simon Beck didn’t come to Palm Springs for the parties. He came for a quieter life—one that might let him finally stop running from the shadows of his past. But the desert has its own secrets. And trouble has a talent for tracking a good man down.

Simon’s the kind of man who disarms with silence. A transplant from Chicago’s monied North Shore, he brings with him both an elite education and a fractured past—one shaped by grief, guilt, and long-buried pain. As a detective, he’s methodical, unflinching, and quietly relentless. As a man, he’s still learning when to drop the armor.

When the body of a young man is found at the base of the Bogert Trail, Simon is pulled into a case that will challenge everything he thought he knew about justice, identity, and himself. The victim, Ty Reid, wasn’t just another casualty—he was a player in a dangerous web of desire, privilege, and power. And unraveling that web means Simon has to face not only the killer—but the parts of himself he’s tried to forget.

Strengths: Sharp intuition. Tactical empathy. Loyal to a fault.
Weaknesses: Haunted by the past. Trust issues. Occasionally, and unwittingly, sleeps with suspects.