It was supposed to be easy...it turned out to be murder.
 
In the thrilling start to the Trask Brothers Murder Mystery Series, identical twin brothers Dave and Don hunt a silent killer terrorizing anglers in the great north woods.
"Spellbinding! I could not put it down. It will keep you on the edge all the way to the end."

When Dave Trask ran for sheriff of wild Lake County, he thought the job would entail locating lost campers and catching poachers, and he didn't really expect to get elected. He was wrong on both counts.
Before he can be sworn in, two guests at a small fishing lodge are discovered brutally murdered. As Dave surveys the murder scene, he becomes aware of two things: he has an inexperienced staff and he will be looking for a killer who walked up to his victims unseen and then disappeared into the wilderness.
As the murders continue, they threaten to destroy the tourism business vital to the county and set off a war between lodge owners and Native American guides. Dave feels his only choice is to enlist the help of his identical twin Don, lead agent for the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. But their hunt for the killer does not go as planned.

"Great story! Reminds me of something William Kent Krueger would write." - Jack B.
"This was a great beginning to the series." - Kindle Reader
"The story, set in the wild country of Minnesota, captured my interest from the start - and kept it to the very last page." - George P.
Readers of John Sanford, William Kent Krueger, Tami Hoag, James Patterson and like authors will enjoy this fast-paced psychological mystery.
Start reading the first installment in the highly rated Trask Brothers Murder Mystery Series today!
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AN IRRESISTIBLE TREAT FOR FANS OF JOHN GRISHAM

Move over, Jake Brigance. No-nonsense, world-weary Minneapolis lawyer Marc Kadella shines through gritty, street-wise narrative in Dennis Carstens’ action-packed legal thriller series, sure to please fans of courtroom drama and classic noir alike.

Marc takes the proverbial road less traveled, going from life as a frustratingly floundering defense attorney to that of a celebrated criminal lawyer, while representing a handful of colorful clients running the gauntlet from vigilante to psychopath. And Marc deftly adapts to each of them. But the hero’s journey is only part of the fun. You can almost see the men sporting fedoras, and the babes would stop traffic even without the cleavage Carstens makes their standard attire. And there’s a contemporary angle sure to please fans of both sexes—the toughest guy in the series is gorgeous investigator Maddy Rivers.

BOOK ONE – THE KEY TO JUSTICE

Financially embarrassed, getting a divorce, living in a shabby apartment, and distinctly short of clients, Marc Kadella’s beginning to question why he ever went into the law when a friend brings him the case all Minneapolis is watching--defending an accused serial killer. If he wins, it could turn his life around— if he blows it, he better go into sales.

BOOK TWO – DESPERATE JUSTICE

After winning the case of a lifetime, Minneapolis criminal defense lawyer Marc Kadella welcomes the infusion of energy his career is receiving. Another lawyer asks him to represent the co-defendant in a murder trial resulting from a petty crime that spiraled out of control—the somewhat “accidental” murder of the nephew of Vivian Corwin, grande dame of the influential Corwin family.

BOOK THREE – MEDIA JUSTICE

An adorable—and photogenic—two-year-old girl is kidnapped, and, when her remains are found, her twenty-two-year-old widowed mother Brittany is charged with her murder. But before she can even be charged she’s been tried and convicted by the media—with tragic consequences.

BOOK FOUR – CERTAIN JUSTICE

Marc was torn about representing oft-assumed psychopath Howie Traynor—his first homicide case—but even he was relieved when Howie was put away for forty years… Until, a decade later, his case is re-opened. And now not only Howie, but a handful of wrongfully-accused felons are back out on the streets.

BOOK FIVE – PERSONAL JUSTICE

In Dennis Carstens’ fifth hard-boiled legal thriller, we meet the classic black widow. All of Mackenzie Sutherland’s late husbands were millionaires. Each died suddenly and quite mysteriously of massive heart attacks (in spite of no history of heart trouble). And each left their children with nothing—and their young, beautiful bride (of about a year or so) with millions.

No one can resist Mackenzie’s charm. Not her current family attorney, not even sharp, successful lawyer Marc Kadella.

BOOK SIX – DELAYED JUSTICE

Maddy’s new beau, investment analyst Rob Judd, is found brutally murdered in his home—with an unconscious Maddy at the gruesome scene of the crime, clutching the murder weapon. Convinced she was framed, Marc decides to take on the case in spite of his close connections to the client. He finds he must delve deep into the complex money laundering schemes of Rob’s employer to save Maddy from false imprisonment. Or worse.

Carstens’ realistic take on the law as a nuts-and-bolts, often rickety way to make a living blends nicely with his worldly-wise portrayal of backroom deals, crooked cops, and conniving judges and politicians. Now bundled as a page-turning box set in an offer legal drama fans can’t refuse!

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Two days. That's all it was supposed to take.
But when Mylas suddenly discovers the truth, it's no longer two days. It's an eternity.

Private investigator Mylas Grey is anticipating photographer Whitney Engel's visit to Washington.
He's been planning their itinerary, looking forward to spending time with her, and wondering if the spark between them will ignite into a roaring fire.

He isn't anticipating having to do a favor for Senator Allen.
However, the favor isn't supposed to take more than two days. All he has to do is take a trip up to Baltimore, spend a couple of days investigating a matter for another senator, and then he'll have the rest of the week to entertain Whitney.

But then . . .
He wasn't anticipating having an encounter with a psychopath.
When Mylas realizes the man he's investigating has a dark side to him, and he starts digging into his background a little further, it sets off a series of events that puts his own life, as well as Whitney's, in grave danger.

Which means . . .
He must rely on his faith to overcome the danger.
Mylas is a smart man, a highly skilled investigator, and a man of means. Yet, when he's confronted with a threat he never imagined, he must depend on his fledgling faith or he could lose everything.

Book II in the Mylas Grey Mystery Series is a clean, nail-biting mystery, involving complex personalities, developing relationships, and a man learning about his newfound faith.

If you enjoy an engaging, multilayered mystery with a vulnerable, endearing hero, someone who will make you cry one minute and laugh the next, you'll love this book!
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DEUCE MORA DOESN’T SHY AWAY FROM FIGHTS – SHE PICKS THEM. THE BIGGER THE BETTER.

Although, to be fair, this one is brought to her by a dog with a bone in his teeth. In Jean Heller’s first Deuce Mora mystery, the scrappy female sleuth tangled with the mob; this time out she’s on the wrong side of the NSA, the FBI and the CIA. At a minimum. Fans of hard-boiled female protagonists should hang onto their fedoras-- this one’s an action-packed extravaganza!

The grisly discovery of a human bone while Deuce is out for a hike with handsome arson investigator Mark Hearst leads to the unearthing of a vast burial field, a human trafficking ring, and international intrigue. The pull-no-punches columnist-- and meticulous detective-- keeps turning up information, bit by bit, only to find some Fed in her face, at her door, emerging from the shadows, always guarding the edges of the story, insisting it will not be told. Yes, the Feds are aware of the trafficking ring; yes, they have a plan to move on it; no, Deuce can’t be told about the plan; and under no circumstances can she write about its existence.

This is the story of a lifetime-- bigger than the Vinnie Colangelo story, which earned Deuce and the Journal a Pulitzer, and, for once, she has the support of her editor, but the Journal’s lawyer appears daily, bringing warnings about “national security.” What, Deuce seethes, could be a greater matter of national security than the safety of the city’s children, who are being kidnapped and murdered?

And this story has become very personal for Deuce, as she herself admits, lamenting her loss of objectivity. The hard-hitting journalist has fallen hard for a new guy: a savvy and charming eight-year-old boy named Charles with the face of an angel and the possibility of a bright future, but at great risk due to a life in foster care. Already the street-smart kid has revealed a depth of knowledge about the failures of DCFS and the machinery meant to protect him. For Deuce, every child reported missing and every new body discovered in the hunting ground has Charles’s face. But while she’s racing to break the case wide open, her life and her career are threatened on all sides; she has to wonder where-- or if-- the Feds will stop to contain the horrific truth.

But break wide open it does, racing to an outrageous surprise ending that seems shockingly … plausible, and Deuce learns first-hand the lesson that sometimes the only way to accomplish a great good is to commit unthinkable evil, and then learn to live with the consequences. Author Heller does a masterful job of expanding the story-- and her canvas-- from a simple murder mystery to an ever-widening crime thriller, and finally to an international conspiracy.

“Good reporters do not always good novelists make, but Jean Heller is both.” -- The Boston Sunday Globe

WHO WILL LIKE IT: Fans of Chicago private investigators VI Warshawski and Libby Fischer Hellman’s Georgia Davis, get-the-story-or-die reporters like Hank Philippi Ryan’s Jane Ryland and Kelly Lange’s Maxi Poole, hard-boiled female protagonists like Marcia Muller’s Sharon McCone and Laura Lippman’s Tess Monaghan; and anyone who admires tough-minded women sleuths who’re good in a fight.

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Friends change, love betrays, and the end results are never what you anticipate.

Reluctantly cajoled into helping an old friend find the cause of her puzzling symptoms, Operating Room Nurse Annie Collins, is drawn into the chaos of a life that has derailed. Libby Matheisen’s doctors and her husband Edward think her symptoms are the result of a miscarriage. Libby is sure they aren’t and wants Annie’s help to discover what’s wrong. As the situation becomes more dire and her suspicions grow, Annie begins to wonder if Libby is really ill or if there is more to the story. Annie’s search for the truth doesn’t come without a heavy price.

Decisions, like rocks thrown into a lake, can ripple far and alter lives forever. A gripping story of how far one woman will go for an old friend, and the first installment in the National Indie Excellence award-winning and critically acclaimed, Annie Collins Mystery Series.

SHE’S LOST, BUT HELICOPTERS ARE CIRCLING…
THE BAD NEWS: THEY’RE NOT A RESCUE UNIT.

In response to readers' comments, this book was edited after its release. Early purchasers will want to update your file in your Kindle library for an improved reading experience.

Investigative reporter Deuce Mora’s seen it all, been there, done everything – (everything dangerous, anyway) – but waking up in a swamp next to a plane crash is a whole other order of scary. The scariest part: she has no memory of how she got there.

She’s so disoriented she actually considers trusting the mysterious swamp hermit who says he needs to hide her to protect her from the search helicopters circling above.

But he could be right – the helicopters belong to agents of what passes for law and order in Joe Pye County – all of whom are rottener than last Easter’s undiscovered eggs and under the sinister thumb of a sadistic, corrupt sheriff.

If Deuce ever gets out of this alive, she’ll have a lot to answer for to both her editor at the paper (who pointedly instructed her not to go to Joe Pye County) and her fiancé Mark, who did not sign on for Deuce’s daredevil shenanigans. They’re both near the end of their respective ropes.

Deuce, however, hasn’t got the whole corruption story yet. She won’t be leaving any time soon.

A perfect fit for those who love tough-minded sleuths who're good in a fight.
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