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
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
...Kanab, Utah is bitterly divided by the politics of land management. When environmentalist David Greenbriar is found dead, County Sheriff, Charley Sutter, seeks help from newly appointed Law Enforcement Ranger, J. D. Books. Books discovers that the victim's widow has been having an affair with Lance Clayburn. Physical evidence links Clayburn to the killing. Books connects Greenbriar's murder to a corrupt Kane County Sheriff's deputy and a Las Vegas
...2009 Winner of the Arizona Book Award for Mystery/Suspense
If Lucy, the pregnant Giant Anteater from Belize, didn't kill the man found dead in her enclosure at California's Gunn Zoo, who did? Zookeeper Teddy Bentley must find the real murderer before her furry friend is shipped off to another zoo in disgrace.
Then another human bites the dust, the monkeys riot, and the wolves go nuts. Things get worse when the snooty folks at
...5) 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
...2019 recipient of the Derrick Murdoch award from the Crime Writers of Canada
Fifteen years ago a young girl named Moonlight Smith went to her best friend Nicky Nowak's house for a sleepover. Moonlight joined the family for breakfast the following morning and was then picked up by her mother. Shortly after, Mr. Nowak went for a walk. He was never seen again.
Autumn has arrived on the mountains above Trafalgar, B.C. and Constable
...7) 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
...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
..."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
...10) 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
...11) 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
...12) 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
...13) Leaden Skies
"Parker is proficient in showing the crossroads between civilization and the frontier, including emerging new roles for women. A cliffhanger ending sets a promising stage for the next installment."—Publishers Weekly
It's the summer of 1880, and potential investment in Leadville's silver mines has brought former president and Civil War general Ulysses S. Grant to this city at the top of the Rockies. But others in his retinue
...2019 recipient of the Derrick Murdoch award from the Crime Writers of Canada
"Delaney glides between scenes with ease. She uses a bare-bones style, without literary flash, to achieve artistry as sturdy and restrained as a Shaker chair."—Publishers Weekly, STARRED review
Siblings Wendy and Jason Wyatt-Yarmouth and their friends have come to the peaceful mountain town of Trafalgar, B.C. to enjoy a two-week vacation
...One of the beautiful Le sisters is dead. Hartford, Connecticut's small Vietnamese community is stunned. Mary Le Vu, wife of a poor grocery-store owner, is gunned down in a drive-by. Her twin sister insists dutiful Mary "wouldn't be caught dead" in that drug-infested zone. The police rule it an unlucky accident. Skeptics hire private eye Rick Van Lam to get to the truth. Amerasian Rick—his father an unknown US soldier—is one of the Bui Doi,
...When zookeeper Theodora "Teddy" Bentley fishes the body of Koala Kate out of Gunn Landing Harbor, she discovers that her fellow zookeeper didn't drown; she was strangled. The clues to Kate's killer implicate other animal keepers at Gunn Zoo, including Outback Bill, marsupial keeper and Kate's Aussie ex-boyfriend; and Robin Chase, the big cat keeper who's got it in for Teddy. Also displaying suspicious behavior are several "liveaboarders" at the
...2019 recipient of the Derrick Murdoch award from the Crime Writers of Canada
In the mountain town of Trafalgar, British Columbia, a young woman is found dead of a heroin overdose, her baby lying at her side. While this should be an open-and-shut drug case, restraint marks on the victim suggest that the death might not have been accidental.
As the investigation into the young woman's death and life grows, the case becomes increasingly
...18) Silent Witness
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
...19) 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
...20) Negative Image
2019 recipient of the Derrick Murdoch award from the Crime Writers of Canada
As the mountain town of Trafalgar, British Columbia, shakes off a long hard winter, famous photographer Rudolph Steiner arrives to do a feature on mountain tourism. Steiner is accompanied by his assistant and his sexy young wife, but he has another reason for the visit: to re-connect with the woman who left him 25 years ago to marry another man. That woman
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