Death in Deep Water. Book 3, the Aristotle "Soc" Socarides Mysteries - Paul Kemprecos

"Kemprecos ... writes sharp, readable prose and certainly knows how to paint a portrait of the Boston/Cape Cod environs."

-Booklist

A Dirty Little Secret

Aristotle Plato (Soc) Socarides has a business card as unusual as his name: he's a private investigator, a commercial diver, and a fisherman operating out of Cape Cod. It's the perfect résumé when the corporate owners of a marine theme park desperately need someone to prove their star attraction-a ten-ton killer whale named Rocky-is innocent in the murder of trainer Eddy Byron.

In Death in Deep Water, the third of the Socarides PI mystery series, Soc goes undercover at the Oceanus aquatic park, closed when ticket sales tanked after the death of Byron. Picketed by the radical animal rights group Sentinels of the Sea and beset by unfavorable publicity, Oceanus no longer looks attractive to the Japanese conglomerate that's been eager to buy it.

Millions are at stake. Soc's employers want him to clear the whale as a homicide suspect, get to the bottom of why Byron died and help convince the Japanese to close the deal. Easier said than done, since Byron turns out to have been an unpleasant fellow, a heavy drinker who used outdated and cruel methods to train his animals.

When the former PR director of Oceanus dies hours before a scheduled meeting with Soc, it becomes evident that if Rocky is a killer, he's got a two-legged assistant. It doesn't take long for Soc to find himself swimming in the dangerous waters of the aquatic park business, where he discovers the "dirty little secret" everyone knows but nobody talks about. The stress of performing for the public in an unnatural habitat is making dolphins and orcas aggressive, turning these amiable aquatic clowns into potential killing machines. Every show that brings in families eager to watch a trainer ride the back of a killer whale is a tragedy waiting to happen.

With the help of a beautiful dolphin trainer, Soc will learn a painful lesson: that when it comes to apex predators, a nosy private detective is at the bottom of the food chain.