Showing 17–32 of 120 results
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Chief Among Sinners
When a mutilated animal appears on Father Terry O’Reilly’s church steps, he isn’t frightened—until more grisly “gifts” follow. The trail exposes Oakton’s long-buried horrors and draws parishioners into confession. Torn between protecting his flock and honoring the seal of confession, Terry risks spiritual ruin as secrets, sins, and crimes close in.
Fans of Murder on the Orient Express will like this.
—Stuart H. Borken, review on Amazon -
Circus Rex: A Novel
Doctor Buzz signs on as ringmaster of the one-ring Rex Terrestrial, Celestial & Nautical Circus—then steers a ragtag troupe from the Mississippi headwaters to New Orleans. Along the way: alcoholic camels, broken boats, chaotic cooks, and his own crisis of confidence—plus a shot at love if he chooses wisely. Loosely based on the author’s life, this comic novel blends poetic imagery, carny patter, and offbeat humor.
Enjoy the hell out of Loren’s brilliance as a storyteller.
—Hank Roubicek, Professor, Radio Personality, Storyteller and Author -
Cold Justice
In this fifth Spencer Manning mystery, a recent murder may be a brilliant frame-up—and justice arrives in unsettling ways: late, never, or for the wrong crime. P.I. Spencer Manning is offered the highest-profile case of his career by a mobster, forcing him to weigh ethics against truth. As two murders unfold, Spencer is pulled into layers of intrigue and contemporary reckoning, haunted by echoes of Capone-era Chicago and streets once slick with blood.
Wonderful weaving of plot, characters and Chicago history
—Don Hood, verified review on Amazon -
Copy Desk Murders
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) -
Cross Currents
From a Missouri farm to Paris and across America, Rose Ann Findlen’s memoir traces a life shaped by racism, Vietnam, and national violence. Facing loss and disillusionment, she becomes a professional, mother, and daughter while challenging entrenched male entitlement as part of the first postwar wave of college-educated women. Enhanced with postcards, photos, and newspaper clippings, it evokes an anxious era and reframes it for later generations.
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Crude
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 -
Damascus Street
In Damascus Street, the sequel to The Syrian, Middle East expert Cathy Sultan crafts a tense web of intrigue in post–civil war Lebanon. Idealistic American physician Andrew Sullivan becomes an unwitting pawn in a deadly spy game, drawn into a maze of deception by a cast of shadowy players. When his fiancée, Nadia Khoury, is kidnapped by Syria’s former intelligence chief, Andrew fights to rescue her in a thriller of passion, survival, and lost innocence.
heartbreaking…
—Rick Polad, author of the Spencer Manning Mystery series -
Dark Alleys
Women are turning up murdered on Chicago’s streets, and Spencer Manning is pulled in by a friend’s “simple favor.” The city’s nighttime underworld drags him through dark alleys and tangled lies as he questions prostitutes who aren’t what they seem. Street walkers, a high-priced call girl, and a college-aged girl are connected—and Spencer must uncover how before the killings continue.
Rick Polad’s taut suspense thriller begins as many mysteries do, but that’s where the similarities end.
—Caleb and Linda Pirtle, verified review on Amazon -
Death’s Door
Murder haunts Chicago P.I. Spencer Manning—especially when he can’t help directly. Seeking distraction, he takes a Green Bay case about puzzling letters, only to uncover a knot of revenge and fraud that pulls him back to the killing. While police insist the case is solved, Spencer suspects otherwise. Racing the next strike, he unravels the puzzle and uses emerging science to catch the murderer in a final twist.
A shocking revelation of deceit, fraud, and murder
—Donald J. Terras, President, Hounds of the Baskervilles -
Deep Waters of Destiny
In the late 1990s, rival cartels plan a Caribbean alliance. Gunner, a seasoned captain, is hired to sail the mega-yacht Destiny from Palermo to Aruba, carrying Italian and Russian mafia bosses to celebrate their first major shipment from Odesa. DEA agent Palmer goes undercover as crew to stop the deal—but bonds with Gunner. Unsure of his loyalties, she’s torn between duty and desire as they navigate the dangerous gray line between good and evil in this romantic suspense thriller.
a masterpiece thriller replete with plot twists that will keep the reader guessing
—Ward Brehm, verified review on Amazon -
Deeper and Deeper
After a fatal crash during a pursuit, police officer Jamie Giles inexplicably returns to life—changed. A sinister presence now shares his body, and buried secrets inside his mind begin taking control, drawing dangerous attention. With only days to uncover what’s happening, Jamie must descend deeper into his own consciousness. The catch: the only way to end the haunting may be to die again.
It would be hard to imagine a better opening chapter to a novel
—Matt Eaton, verified review on Amazon -
Destiny Springs
Corey Flanagan’s marriage proposal atop Hermosa Beach Pier turns lethal when the widow of the man he killed arrives with a loaded gun. “Delightfully deranged” Cecelia Jackson pursues him two thousand miles, driving a blue Chevy Malibu with her dead husband’s urn strapped in the passenger seat. Fleeing to the Midwest, Corey seeks refuge with his mother, best friend, and former lover—until Cecelia’s vendetta closes in at a Wisconsin cabin for a deadly finale.
A suspenseful, vivid, and evocative book… a heart-racing literary experience. 5 out of 5 stars
—Manhattan Book Review -
Do I Know You?
In book two of the Hassie Calhoun trilogy, twenty-nine-year-old single mother Hassie moves from Nevada to New York City to pursue singing. Success comes, but childcare doesn’t, so she enters a marriage of convenience with a handsome gay lawyer who wants a family. In England, she falls for a Royal Navy officer, finds bigger fame in London’s West End, and spends four years shuttling between London and NYC to avoid breaking hearts. Set in the 1970s–80s, it spans early AIDS and the Falklands War.
glamorous and racy, but also heartfelt and thoughtful
—Alun Hood, verified review on Amazon -
Dorie Lavalle
Born on January 1, 1900, Dorie is trapped in poverty—childless, lovelessly married to Louie LaValle, and tied to a failing farm. Prohibition pushes her to make and sell moonshine, and she soon earns more than she imagined. With free-wheeling Victor building a hidden woodland still, danger escalates when he returns wounded from an ambush. Now Dorie must protect her future—and Victor—from neighbors, a zealous sheriff, and the Chicago mob.
In luminous prose and with a powerful sense of drama, Mary Desjarlais brings us a new kind of hero…
—Janis Agee, author of The River Wife -
Drug Affair
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 -
Emerging Man
Near forty, Ryan Connelly returns to his small Minnesota hometown hoping to reconnect with his estranged father. Stuck in grief and inertia, he befriends an aging sculptor carving a giant boulder into a man rising from the earth. Helping with the work, Ryan begins to heal, confront his past, and rediscover his passion for living.
A coming-of-age novel blending humor and heartbreaking pathos, <em>Emerging Man</em> teaches us that it’s never too late to become a man.
—Ian Graham Leask, author of House of Large Sizes
