Sam Casey

A body is discovered in a cement pillar. Clasped in his hand is a gold pin shaped like a lightning bolt. What secret did he carry to his grave and why is someone hell-bent on keeping that secret buried?

He's known by the code name, Sparrow. Authorities can only identify him by the tattoo on the back of his hand. Sparrow is a gun for hire and his next target is Reverend Everett Smith. His orders are to kill the Reverend on the River Queen Casino.

In 1985, Catherine DeMarco spent one hot July night where she shouldn't have been, doing something she shouldn't have been doing. This was a fatal mistake. Now Jimmy Taggart is sitting on death row. Details of that night are still hazy in his mind but the evidence was conclusive. No one believed in his innocence then. Only one person believes in it now.

Former homicide detective, Sam Casey, finds it hard to stay away from crime scenes, especially those where victims have died violently, and where the killers are still unknown. Centuries-old skeletal remains of Native Americans along with artifacts are discovered during the construction of a downtown office building.

For seventy years, Sin Strip was the place to be in Chasen Heights, Illinois. It offered liquor, gambling, topless dancing, anything the heart desired. It was an age of self-indulgence that began a decline in 1995. But two weeks before the wrecking ball was to destroy one of the remaining landmark hotels, the police make a grisly discovery. Not all of Chasen Heights' secrets were destroyed when Sin Strip was closed down. "Sam Casey has an advantage over other cops. The dead speak to her, tell her secrets about their life and death. But sometimes what she learns can get her killed."

One week before her wedding a young woman strips, takes the time to fold her clothes, then calmly walks into Lake Michigan. When Sam Casey is asked to look into the death of a young mother who left her infant in a high chair, walked down the street and jumped off the overpass, Sam finds a strange similarity-they each received a phone call just prior to committing suicide. Both calls were from disposable phones and both calls lasted four seconds. Were these really suicides or something more sinister? To complicate matters, Sam's husband, Jake Mitchell, is working the case of a woman whose body was found near a golf course. But when Sam touches the purse strap used to strangle the woman, she hears the same word she connected to the two suicides-destiny. Sam is an investigative consultant for the Chasen Heights Police Department. When others deal in logic, Sam deals in the illogic. She has an advantage over other cops. The dead speak to her, tell her secrets about their life and death. But sometimes what she learns can get her killed. The 6th in the award-winning Sam Casey series combines mystery with an element of paranormal.

Six-year-old Nemo is a member of the Concrete Community, the homeless who scrape out a life on the streets and in the shelters. Street savvy beyond his years, he relies on instincts to stay safe and cunning to find food and clothes. But curiosity gets the best of him when he finds a tunnel in the sub-basement of an abandoned building. His mother warns him to stay away. It could be dangerous, and he might get lost. The tunnel runs for blocks and is a great place to explore. Then one day he ventures too far and finds where it leads. Nemo wishes he had listened to his mother. Sam Casey is an investigative consultant for the Chasen Heights Police Department. Part Native American, she has the unique ability to hear the dead speak, touch something the killer touched, and pick up clues about a case. But her life is currently in a tailspin, and her talents have escaped her. If ever there was a time that she needed those skills, it's when a homeless woman is found dead, a needle in her arm. But it wasn't the drugs that killed her; it was the bullet. The case turns personal for Sam when ballistics shows the bullet came from her husband's gun. Nemo attracts the attention of Alex Red Cloud, a family friend of Sam's, after Alex witnesses the street urchin stealing fruit. Why is Alex so secretive about the boy? How did her husband, Jake, know the drug addict? And what does Nemo find on the other side of the tunnel's door? The answers lead to a shocking conclusion in the seventh installment of the award-winning Sam Casey series.

When Jake Mitchell receives a desperate call from a friend, he and his wife, Sam Casey, venture east to a small town near Hilton Head, South Carolina. The friend has no memory of the previous twenty-four hours, doesn't know how he ended up in a sleazy motel, nor does he recognize the dead woman lying next to him. The lowcountry is known for its history of wars, Indians, hidden treasure, voodoo, root curses, and century old secrets. Just the perfect place for Sam's talents!