Poisoned Pen Press
When a county employee is found shot to death in sun-drenched daylight while sitting in his county road grader, Undersheriff Bill Gastner is faced with puzzling questions. The simplest explanation—that an errant bullet from a careless target shooter's rifle blew out Larry Zipoli's brains—is soon discarded as inconsistencies surface. The fatal bullet shows no rifling marks, and investigation shows that the shooter walked directly toward
...2019 recipient of the Derrick Murdoch award from the Crime Writers of Canada
What would it be like to return to your hometown after twenty-five years in prison for a crime you have maintained you did not commit? And why would you return?
Walter Desmond is back in Trafalgar, British Columbia, having been officially exonerated when new evidence showed corruption at worst, incompetence at best, by the Trafalgar City Police
...California zookeeper Theodora Bentley travels to Iceland to pick up an orphaned polar bear cub destined for the Gunn Zoo's newly installed Northern Climes exhibit. The trip is intended to be a combination of work and play. But on day two, while horseback riding near a picturesque seaside village, Teddy discovers a man lying atop a puffin burrow, shot through the head.
The victim is identified as American birdwatcher Simon Parr, winner of
...4) Chained
"Brady's years of experience as a veterinarian supply plenty of amusing stories and helpful hints for animal owners while her complicated heroine investigates a tricky case." —Kirkus Reviews
Everyone in the charming Hudson Valley town of Oak Falls expected Flynn Keegan, their handsome blond "Golden Boy" to make it big in Hollywood. So when veterinarian Kate Turner identifies a bone dug up by one of her dog patients as human,
...Random Road introduced Geneva Chase—"a reporter with a compelling voice, a damaged woman who recounts her own bittersweet story as she hunts down clues," says Library Journal—to murders straight out of a nightmare—six bodies found naked and cut to ribbons in a posh Connecticut home.
Having survived this and a personal tragedy, Geneva's story still includes alcoholism and career challenges compounded by the rocky
...In this sequel to the critically-acclaimed The Commission, Sam Kincaid and Kate McConnell are back. They must struggle to keep the witnesses to an armored car robbery alive.
Walter Bradshaw is being held for the botched robbery, but his followers—members of the Reformed Church of the Divine Christ—are ensuring that witnesses to the crime never make it to the stand. Are these boys hardened criminals or boys with nowhere else to
...2019 recipient of the Derrick Murdoch award from the Crime Writers of Canada
Trouble is brewing in the small, bucolic mountain town of Trafalgar, British Columbia. An American who came to Trafalgar as a Vietnam War draft dodger has left land and money to the town. But there's a catch. The money must be used to build a garden to honor draft dodgers. This bequest has torn the close-knit, peaceful town apart. Then the body of a leading
...8) Iron Ties
"A well-crafted novel that will appeal to readers of mysteries, historical fiction, and genre westerns."—Booklist
The railroad is coming to Leadville and its rich Rocky Mountain mines. Among those who will be on hand to celebrate the arrival of the Denver & Rio Grande is Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States and former commander of the Union armies.
Like other residents in the Colorado boomtown this summer
...9) Desert Lost
Winner of the Best Mysteries of 2009 of Library Journal.
While running surveillance in an industrial section of Scottsdale, P.I. Lena Jones discovers the body of a woman connected to Second Zion, an infamous polygamy cult based in northern Arizona. With the help of a former "sister wife," Lena discovers a shocking secret: in a society where one man can have ten wives, nine men will have none. Second Zion makes certain these
...10) Head Wounds
"Dennis Palumbo's Head Wounds is a spectacular ride." —THOMAS PERRY, New York Times bestselling author
"This is a book that'll make you lock your doors and check your computer's security settings." —JOSEPH FINDER, New York Times bestselling author
Psychologist Dr. Daniel Rinaldi consults with the Pittsburgh Police. His specialty is treating victims of violent crime—those who've survived
...11) Jump
"Fast-paced and funny, this is a perfectly blended cocktail of escapism."—Publishers Weekly
When the most hated landlord in San Francisco takes a jump off the roof of his own building, it isn't hard to find suspects. The police want to call it a suicide, since both the Mayor and press are complaining about the dismal closure rate for homicide investigations.
But ex-cop Sam McGowan knows it was murder. He also knows that
...12) Desert Wind
When P.I. Lena Jones's Pima Indian partner Jimmy Sisiwan is arrested in the remote northern Arizona town of Walapai Flats, Lena rushes to his aid. She finds a town up in arms over a new uranium mine located only ten miles from the magnificent Grand Canyon. Jimmy's sister-in-law, founder of Victims of Uranium Mining, has been murdered, and the opposing side is taking hits too. Then Ike Donohue, the mine's public relations flack, is found shot to
...13) Night Terrors
"Authentic and fast-paced, Night Terrors is a thrilling plunge into the mind of an obsessed killer. This is something you don't want to miss!" —Stephen Jay Schwartz, LA Times bestselling author of Boulevard and Beat
Retired FBI profiler Lyle Barnes is falling apart mentally. Psychologist and trauma expert Daniel Rinaldi thinks he can help Barnes through his terrible night visions. Barnes, however, is also
...14) Deadly Descent
Layers of deadly intrigue bind generations of families in historian Lottie Albright's Western Kansas community. When false accusations threaten senatorial candidate Brian Hadley's political career, secrets whispered to Lottie as editor of the county history books spur a personal search for his aunt's murderer.
Ignoring warnings from her twin, clinical psychologist Josie Albright, Lottie dons a badge to gain access to information. She delves
...15) Mercury's Rise
"Parker's deft evocation of a lost era in Western American history—the life of the mining boom town—and her complex characterization make Leaden Skies an absorbing read."—Stephanie Barron, national bestselling author
It is summer 1880, and Inez Stannert, one of the partners in the Silver Queen Saloon in Leadville, Colorado, travels with her photographer friend Susan to the fashionable summer retreat of Manitou for a reunion
...16) Desert Run
Things are never easy for Scottsdale private eye Lena Jones. Her partner in Desert Investigations is leaving for a wife and a job at Southwest MicroSystems. Her old captain at the Scottsdale PD is moving home to Brooklyn. Now she's doing security for Warren Quinn, director of a documentary being shot at Papago Park about the German POW camp and the "great escape" of Christmas Eve, 1944, when some prisoners tunneled out and fled. And one surviving
...17) Hidden Heritage
After a gruesome killing at the Carlton County, Kansas, livestock feedyard, Sheriff Sam Abbot, Undersheriff Lottie Albright, and her ranching husband deputy know their resources are over-stretched. Still, none of their team or neighboring law enforcement in Western Kansas welcomes the idea of a regional crime center.
Kansas Bureau of Investigation Agent Dimon suggests the murder may not be a simple local affair. Unconvinced, Lottie— still
...18) Escape Artist
"Who would have thought that, of all the real-life characters to have a second life as detectives, Edna Ferber, now largely forgotten as a writer, would emerge as one of the best?" —Booklist STARRED review
In 1904, Edna Ferber is a 19-year-old girl reporter for the Appleton, Wisconsin, Crescent, an occupation her family considers scandalous for a proper young girl. By chance, she interviews Harry Houdini, in town visiting
...19) Make Believe
"A vivid, atmospheric mystery about 1951 Hollywood...this is a winner." —David Morrell, New York Times bestselling author
In June 1951, Edna Ferber heads to Hollywood to support her friend Max Jeffries who has found himself blacklisted after the McCarthy hearings in Washington rattled Hollywood with allegations of Communist-leaning sympathies. Edna first met Max when he worked on the 1927 Broadway production of Show Boat,
...20) Desert Rage
Ferociously ambitious U.S. Senatorial candidate Juliana Thorsson has been keeping a secret.
The horrific slaughter of a prominent doctor, his wife, and their ten-year-old son brings Thorsson to Private Investigator Lena Jones. The slain family's 14-year-old, Alison, has confessed to the murders. Thorsson wants to hire Lena to discover if Alison is telling the truth, but Lena demands to know what a rising political star wants with a girl she's
...