Open House

Eva Wolfe hires Joe Costa to investigate the drug-related death of her husband Victor. Costa, a lawyer starting a new career as a real estate agent, reluctantly agrees. Possible murder suspects include Victor's ex-partner and several clients. Costa's investigation takes him to a Montecito mansion, a Malibu beach house, a wild party in Santa Barbara, a historic 1909 stone house, a music store, and other venues. A prime suspect is murdered, and then another, and then two more die. His investigation confounded, Costa conducts an illegal search that surfaces additional evidence that leads to a violent confrontation and several arrests. Along the way, his life is complicated by an up and down romance, a sinking real estate career, entanglement in a feud between two TV preachers, collecting on a $50,000 debt, and helping a former classmate avoid incarceration.