Cedar Ridge Files: A Fox's First Case

In the quiet town of Cedar Ridge, nothing ever truly happens.

Detective Julian thought he had made peace with that. Months of petty theft, endless paperwork, and late nights dulled by cheap gin had become the rhythm of his life. Real detective work belonged to bigger cities, places louder, darker, and far from the whispering pines of the Pacific Northwest.

But when a late-night call from his excitable partner, Milo, drags him back to the station, everything changes.

For the first time in years, Cedar Ridge has a homicide.

Now, beneath the glow of streetlamps and the watchful hush of the forest, Julian and Milo must navigate a town where everyone knows everyone, and secrets do not stay buried for long. As rumors spread faster than wildfire and the chief urges discretion, the two detectives find themselves stepping into unfamiliar territory.

Because in a town this small, a single death does not just shake the streets.

It shakes everyone.

And someone out there is counting on the silence to hold.