"The sixties came roaring back into our lives-and blew everything apart."Seattle PI Rachel Stern usually does background checks for women looking for romance, not revolution. But in 1999, she agrees to investigate the past history of Ellie Foley, a sixties activist who went underground after a violent bank robbery.Quickly obsessed with her mysterious subject, Rachel uncovers dangerous secrets as she interviews people who knew Ellie during those turbulent times, and learns difficult truths about her parents' participation in the anti-war movement. Seeking truth, Rachel is plunged into peril-for herself and the people she loves. She enlists the help of her mentor, PI Matt Rossiter, a Vietnam vet who is battling his own demons from that era. Neither escapes the turbulence of the past.Waverly Fitzgerald and collaborator Curt Colbert have introduced a special literary collaboration with parallel novels that share characters and events. Hard Rain by Waverly Fitzgerald focuses on Rachel Stern and the anti-war movement. Curt's novel, All Along the Watchtower, features Matt Rossiter, a Vietnam vet with PTSD, who is hunting the killer attacking his old platoon members. Certain dramatic events and colorful characters appear in both novels, but each can be read as a satisfying standalone mystery.Hard Rain is the first Rachel Stern Mystery.