A cemetery should be peaceful—until a cryptic call draws P.I. Spencer Manning to one that isn’t. As disappearances mount, Spencer uncovers a graveyard where bodies may not match the names on the stones. Linking the mysteries could expose a scandal reaching frightening heights. To crack the case, Spencer must set a trap—with himself as bait—in his eighth and most perplexing investigation.

it connected with my emotions on every level

—Karen Bedore on Amazon

A foreign land grab in the Dakotas, a strangulation, a lecherous artist, a psychotic stalker, a Ponzi scheme, illicit lovers, and an ovulation cycle—all combine to lead our young heroes on a dizzying path, capped off in a frightening climax.

…more twists and turns than the Pikes Peak Highway.

—Bob Junghans on Amazon

Two men possessed by competing visions clash over a Minnesota mineral spring. Dr. Robert Hartwell returns from San Francisco to open a meditation center—only to find his access gated off. Rancher Justin Taylor claims ownership through a farmer’s adverse-possession sale. Hartwell’s lawyer hires Boston Meade to track down the vanished farmer and expose the fraud. What begins as a small favor becomes an obsession, as Boston’s dead-end interviews reveal that the land dispute hides something far more dangerous than rutting bulls.

Amid 1984 farm foreclosures and protests in southern Minnesota, newspaperman Boston Meade finds his summer intern dead in a ravine. Boston suspects murder tied to a missing piece of evidence and the bones of a Minneapolis detective discovered at a derelict farm. Local leaders shut him down—including his brother, the county sheriff—so Boston pursues the intern’s investigation with only editor Ginger O’Meara, whose trust is fragile. Their hunt exposes a town-wide criminal web and old betrayals.

A strong start to a new mystery series with a fine sense of place.

—KIRKUS REVIEWS (starred review)

Set in North Dakota’s 2014 oil boom, Crude follows a state transformed by shale wealth and outside money—Houston, Dubai, New York—colliding with prairie life. A New York hedge fund games local refiners, crude-fueled political ambition rises, and polluted real estate becomes a battlefield. Ranchers die from toxic fumes; pipelines and profit schemes crisscross the land. Amid the corruption and contamination, the real engine may be scorned love—and revenge taken with brutal precision.

Fascinating!

—Gary Lindberg, author of The Shekinah Legacy

Spencer Manning is hired by a wealthy widow to investigate her son’s drug arrest—until the uncooperative son and three murders turn a ‘simple’ case deadly. Clues entangle a Chicago detective, FBI agent, US senator, gang leader, and a nun who insists the Lord will provide—just not as Spencer expects. With suspects multiplying and secrets surfacing, Spencer must set a risky trap that could leave him jailed—or dead—in his most challenging case yet.

Bet you can’t read just one book of this intriguing series.

—Martha Hutson, Spencer fan