Debra D. Ferguson

Rusty is a retired judge attempting a third act in life with a loving soon-to-be wife, Bea, with whom he shares both a restful home on an idyllic lake in the rural Midwest and a plaintive hope that this marriage will be his best, and his last. But the peace that’s taken Rusty so long to find evaporates when Bea’s young adult son, Aaron, living under their supervision while on probation for drug possession, disappears. If Aaron doesn’t return soon, he will be sent back to jail.

The Mediterranean island of Malta, still a British colony, is a strategic lynchpin under siege--literally the most bombed patch of earth on the planet. Max Chadwick is an officer with the British Ministry of Information and is thus charged with keeping morale high against all odds. If the Maltese bow under the weight of the daily assaults, the tide of the war could turn. Max spends his time with the military's top brass and the beautiful deputy editor of Il Berqa, the Maltese paper.