Sean McPherson

Crime boss Georgio Gambino abducts Sean "Mick" McPherson's pregnant wife, Emma, and his friend's two daughters and contracts to sell them and another group of women-some into forced labor, others as sex slaves, and a few for their organs. Gambino confines three best friends-Mick, a PI; Joe, a homicide detective; and Rafferty, an FBI special agent-to Pines & Quill writing retreat and pits them against each other with a warning: "Mick, if you try to save Emma, I'll kill Joe's daughters. Joe, if you try to save your daughters, I'll kill Emma. And Rafferty, if you help Mick or Joe, I'll kill your fiancée, Ivy." With help from the writers in residence-a fiction novelist, a retired maritime pilot, the granddaughter of a legendary pearl diver, and a prior mountain climber now double-amputee-Mick, Joe, and Rafferty manage to sneak away and journey to Mount Baker, where the captives await transport. Along the way, the three best friends learn the lines they'll cross to save the people they love.

A contemporary crime thriller perfect for Louise Penny and Robert Dugoni fans, Illusionist presents PI McPherson with an impossible dilemma: kill an author at a writing retreat in the Pacific Northwest, or let a college student die. WHEN AN ILLUSIONIST joins the Pines & Quill writing retreat, one of the owners vanishes without a trace in the middle of everyone-but the surrounding would-be witnesses don't see or hear a thing. That's when crime boss Georgio Gambino makes a checkmate move against his nemesis, Sean McPherson-he attempts to blackmail a writer in residence into killing another writer and framing McPherson. In a video call, Gambino warns the writer, "If you don't follow orders, your daughter will die." Then he pans the camera to prove his access to her college dorm room. As he begins to investigate, McPherson discovers that Carmine Fiore, Gambino's second in command, covets his boss's role and is staging a coup. As Gambino's soldiers traffic drugs, weapons, and humans, Fiore plants incriminating evidence against the notorious Sureños gang. Can McPherson leverage that knowledge for a temporary truce and the gang's help? Even if he can, the Sureños gang won't be enough alone. As the clock ticks down, McPherson gathers Pines & Quill's writers in residence-a former NASCAR driver, a professional triathlete, an architect turned house flipper, and a world-renowned magician who may not be who she appears to be-to create the illusion of a lifetime.