James Dargan

The Waterfront Pact (A Val Buchanan Investigation Book 7)1916, San Francisco. Fog on the Embarcadero. Fire in the warehouses by the bay. Ex-Pinkerton turned private investigator Val Buchanan arrives in a city braced for war-not abroad, but on its own docks. A coastwide strike has paralyzed the piers, longshoremen demand dignity, and employers demand obedience. Into the smoke steps Buchanan, hired unofficially to keep order where there is none.
But San Francisco's fight runs deeper than picket lines. In Chinatown's shadowed alleys, tong enforcers cut their own bargains with the waterfront bosses. In the pulpits, Reverend Samuel Pike preaches peace while selling it by the candle. In back rooms, attorney Jonas Weber and fixer Victor Laskin ink pacts that trade blood for silence. And in the streets, fiery strike leader Declan O'Rourke rallies men to stand until the gunfire breaks them.
Drawn into a maze of violence and betrayal, Buchanan finds uneasy allies in Mae Ling, a teahouse keeper whose influence runs further than she admits, and Detective Clara Navarro, one of the city's first women on the force, whose badge may not protect her from the truth she insists on writing down. From fog-draped piers to warehouses set ablaze, Buchanan confronts a pact that hands San Francisco's night to the tongs and its daylight to the Chamber of Commerce.
When the fire reaches its height, he must choose whether justice lies in delivering a report-or in burning it before it burns the city. Perfect for fans of historical noir, labor history thrillers, and character-driven crime fiction. Read Book 7 in the Val Buchanan series-a stand-alone mystery woven with series-long reckonings-and step into the smoke where justice is bartered and every oath has a price.