Hatred, blackmail, and murder—a Brad Shade hat trick. The Black Ace reunites us with our favorite, savvy fourth-liner, with plot twists, wisecracks, and an ending that could only come from G.B. Joyce. Thanks to Shade's work at the NHL draft last season, he gets to hold on to his job as scout for L.A.—at least for now. But a journeyman's work is never done. Shade is checking out small-town talent with his old friend and teammate "Chief." But when they learn of the suicide of an old teammate from their playing days in L.A., they take a sometimes violent detour through the dark side of a small town with no shortage of secrets it wants kept at almost any cost.

Corruption runs deep in the third installment of the Brad Shade thrillers, the series that inspired the hit Global TV show Private Eyes. When Brad Shade arrives in Russia, he knows exactly what to expect. As a former journeyman turned Scouting Director for Los Angeles, Shade is accustomed to delays at the world's worst airport, run-ins with Vlad Dubinin, once his rival, now his Moscow scout, and the perpetual headache of getting draft picks released from the KHL. But this trip starts off with a catastrophic bang: one player collapses suddenly mid-game, L.A.'s top prospect is missing, and a fatal explosion leaves deals dashed and the league reeling. Forced to contend with violent interference from the FSB, Shade becomes increasingly aware that what looks like a series of unrelated disasters may be something far more sinister. And when everything points to deception within his own organization, Shade realizes yet again that the game played off the ice...