Jim West

This Jim West mystery/thriller, the seventh in the series, finds Jim traveling to Fabens, TX, in an effort to locate Stu Brown, an old acquaintance, who had written Jim a cryptic letter asking for his help in finding a briefcase. The letter provides no obvious hint to where the briefcase might be found or how Jim can contact Brown. In Fabens, he discovers that someone has murdered his friend. Jim provides a copy of the letter to the local police explaining that he has no idea, where the briefcase is or how to decipher the sets of numbers provided in the letter. Figuring there is nothing more he can do, Jim starts his trek back home. He plans to spend a night or two relaxing at the Lodge in Cloudcroft, NM, on his way only to find that he is being followed. An ominous, unidentified phone caller gives Jim an ultimatum - find the briefcase and turn it over to him within a week. If he doesn't, Jim will face dire consequences. Jim tries to beg off saying that he doesn't know, where the briefcase is, but his plea is ignored. A violent confrontation in Cloudcroft verifies Jim's worst suspicion, a Mexican drug cartel wants the briefcase. The confrontation also brings the FBI into the picture. Like the cartel, the FBI also wants Jim to continue his search. The search takes Jim to the New Mexican ghost town of Chloride where the final confrontation takes place and Jim finds out, who the bad guys really are.

It was supposed to be a short, fun golf outing, but when Jim West and his friend Edward "Perry" Mason stumble across a dead body in a restroom at a rest stop along I-25, things turn bad and then only get worse. With the golf outing shot, West intends to stay in Colorado Springs only for a day or two. However, when two more murder victims turn up — one with West's name handwritten in her notebook - the heat on West skyrockets. The police instruct him to stick around, and soon he discovers that while the police may want to pin the crimes on him, the killer wants him out of the picture. Way out — like dead. West's only ally is Lieutenant Michelle Prado, a tall red head with large green eyes that captivate West. Assigned to keep an eye on West, Lieutenant Prado decides the best way to do so is to keep him close. West and Prado do their own digging into the investigation. In the process, Jim wonders how close their relationship will evolve. It seems to West that as the police focus less on him, the killer intensifies his focus on him. Barely surviving an initial confrontation, West realizes he must take the initiative. If he doesn't, or perhaps even if he does - he may end up as just another Colorado kill.

No One Else to Kill by Bob Doerr is a literary "tour de force! " Author Bob Doerr hits the bull's-eye. Jim West travels to a small, remote hunting lodge in the Pecos Wilderness area in New Mexico to rendezvous with an old friend and do some hiking. His friend stands him up, and Jim is about to return home when a murder occurs in the lodge. Law enforcement jumps in, and Jim's early departure plans are scrubbed. When a second murder occurs less than twenty four hours later, things really start to get dicey. Both crimes were intricately planned to mislead the authorities, no one appears to have a motive for the killings, and everyone has an alibi. Up against a wall with time running out, the deputy-in-charge asks West to be their man on the inside, but West is adamant that this is not his case to solve. Since his retirement from the Air Force, however, Fate has had her own plans for West. Why should this be any different?

DEAD MEN CAN KILL by Bob Doerr Jim West never dreams his demonstration of forensic hypnosis on a university student would stir up memories of an 18-year-old mystery.... When former Air Force Special Agent with the office of Special Investigations, Jim West moves back to New Mexico his goal is to start an easy going second career as a part time professional lecturer on investigative techniques to colleges and civic organizations. He never envisioned that a practical demonstration on forensic hypnosis with a student at a state university would stir up memories of an eighteen-year-old murder. When the student himself is murdered three days later, West finds himself ensnared in a web of intrigue that pits West and the small town's authorities against a ruthless, psychotic killer. An aggressive reporter for the town's newspaper seeks out West to help her with the story but after the murder of one of her co-workers her efforts quickly align with West and the Sheriff. As West works closely with the reporter, he wonders if this could be the first real relationship for him since his devastating divorce a few years earlier. The killer, though, has other plans for her as he believes she has become a threat to his anonymity. The story twists back and forth, leading up to the inevitable confrontation.

LOOSE ENDS KILL is a fast-paced mystery/thriller that takes place in the historic city of San Antonio, Texas, and throws Jim West into the middle of a police investigation of the murder of an old friend's wife. The police already believe they have the killer — West's friend. In this new novel, Jim West comes to the rescue of an old friend suspected of killing his own wife. West rolls up his sleeves and begins to dig deep-perhaps too deeply-as someone begins to follow and target him. It's not long before West discovers that he didn't know his friend's wife as well as he thought. Everyone but West and his friend knew that she had many affairs. Any of her lovers could have had a motive to kill her. As he investigates one lover after the other, West ignites an outbreak of more deaths and mayhem. The killer wants him dead. His friend's lawyer wants him to go back home, and the police threaten to arrest him. Feeling the pressure to solve the murder quickly West sets a trap for the killer-using himself as bait. However, he soon learns he may have only outsmarted himself.