Cat DeLuca Mysteries

Chicago's Pants On Fire Detective Agency targets liars and cheats. But PI Cat DeLuca is once again up to her smokin' skinny jeans in murder. Cat is out running in a neighborhood park when she crashes over the faceless body of Bernie Love. Bernie was the finance guy to the scary Provenza family, with whom he grew up. And friend to Cat's shady, Ferrari-wheeling-cop Uncle Joey. As she hauls out her phone, Cat is assaulted by someone with a Rolex, stun gun, and wheelbarrow. When the cops show up, the killer is gone. And so is the body. Captain Bob, a stickler for habeas corpus, blows off Cat's story. Stung by a chorus of snickers from the Ninth Precinct, home base for DeLuca men, Cat vows to make her case and goes after Rolex man. The murderer, desperate to silence the only person who can place him at the park, comes after Cat. She's quickly on a collision course with the deadliest adversary she's ever encountered-but she has the help of her beagle partner, her gun-happy assistant, an ex-spy (or two), and her outrageous, interfering Italian family. Meanwhile her hot, FBI-boyfriend seems sidelined in Vegas. In Bye, Bye, Love, K.J. Larsen delivers another nail-biting tale rife with unexpected plot twists, zany characters, fabulous food, and laugh-out-loud humor.

A sinister Episcopal Bishop shows up to confirm Lottie and Josie Albright's niece at the new frame church built on the corners of four Western Kansas counties. Suddenly, the Reverend Mary Farnsworth flees to the anteroom after dropping the chalice during communion. Josie, a psychologist, lingers after the service to comfort her, but Lottie orders her sister to leave when they discover Reverend Mary's body. As Deputy Sheriff, Lottie's duty bound to attend to the death. Back at the county-wide picnic, an elderly lady informs Lottie that a man kneeling next to her scared Reverend Mary into a heart attack. Lottie soon learns that the beloved Reverend Mary was a woman without a past, and that the rogue Bishop has unexpected ties to Western Kansas. A sheriff from an adjacent county, unaware that Josie is an FBI consultant, assumes that seizing control of the investigation will be easy and instead arouses the twins' wrath. Forgetting that the past is always present, Lottie's investigation into old documents riles up murderous century-old rivalries....

Some men are destined for danger Texas Ranger Tom Bell is simply tracking a fugitive killer in 1931 when he rides into Kilgore, a hastily erected shanty town crawling with rough and desperate men-oil drillers who've come by the thousands in search of work. The sheriff of the boomtown is overwhelmed and offers no help, nor are any of the roughnecks inclined to assist the young Ranger in his search for the wanted man. In fact, it soon becomes apparent that the lawman's presence has irritated the wrong people, and when two failed attempts are made on his life, Bell knows he's getting closer to finding out who is responsible for cheating and murdering local landowners to access the rich oil fields flowing beneath their farms. When they ambush him for a third time, they make the fatal mistake of killing someone close to him and leaving the Ranger alive. Armed with his trademark 1911 Colt .45 and the Browning automatic he liberated from a gangster's corpse, Tom Bell cuts a swath of devastation through the heart of East Texas in search of the consortium behind the lethal land-grab scheme.

"Tough, original, compelling-a perfect thriller debut."-LEE CHILD, New York Times bestselling author After an ancient talisman is smuggled out of Hong Kong, a container ship filled with Chinese refugees runs aground on Alcatraz, the crew murdered. The Chinese Triads suspect one of their own, a female assassin named Sally known to have a complex relationship with a San Francisco detective named Cape Weathers. But when Sally goes missing, Cape becomes the focus of the Triads' attention, and soon the police and FBI have him on their radar. Cape quickly realizes he's screwed if he doesn't find out what really happened on board the ship. He seeks the aid of two neurotic cops, a drug lord, an autistic computer genius, a mayoral candidate, and a reporter with sentient hair. From there, it all goes to Hell.

Mexico City detective Héctor Belascoarán Shayne is summoned home from vacation by his sister, whose childhood friend Anita has been raped and nearly killed by unknown assailants. Héctor discovers that Anita, recently married into the wealthy Costa family, has just seen her husband and his two brothers systematically murdered. Now, if she can stay alive long enough to receive it, Anita stands in line to receive a legacy of some 200 million pesos. During his investigation, Héctor trades stories with a novelist who is writing a crime novel based upon the recent murder of fourteen narcotraficantes and has traced the crime directly back to Judicial Police Commander Saavedra. How can a detective operate in a society in which the social and political institutions designed to protect the people are hopelessly corrupt?