Book 12

A Bitter Dying

by L.J. Sellers

Published 14 March 2017

Liars, Cheaters & Thieves

by L.J. Sellers

Published 6 December 2011
Outside a local bar, a man is drugged and slashed to death with a scalpel. Inside a local bank, a woman suffers a fatal heart attack after learning her life savings have been plundered.

The crimes are as different as the night and day they occur. The vicious murder is a case for Eugene’s Violent Crimes Division, but the more Detective Wade Jackson and his homicide team probe into the death of Rafel Mazari—an Iraq War veteran with disturbing secrets—the more it appears that one crime’s victim may be the other’s perpetrator.

While there’s damning evidence that Mazari died at the hands of his cheating wife, a phantom internet veterans’ charity—the same one that wiped out the heart attack victim’s bank account—keeps cropping up at every turn of Jackson’s investigation. And when Mazari’s best friend turns up murdered in identical fashion, Jackson suspects a motive that’s deeper, darker, and more devastating than broken vows and love turned lethal.

The Sex Club

by L.J. Sellers

Published 31 January 2011
As a nurse and youth counselor at Eugene, Oregon’s Planned Parenthood clinic, Kera Kollmorgan has endured her share of harassment from fanatical abortion foes. But it only strengthens her resolve. Then a bomb blast rips through the clinic and, soon after, a teenage girl Kera recently treated is found naked and murdered in a dumpster. Kera fears the bitter abortion war in her small community has reached a terrifying new level.

The sexualized killing of Jessie Davenport hits close to home for Detective Wade Jackson. Raising his teenage daughter alone, he understands better than anyone the predatory world that threatens young women. But he never expects his grim investigation will lead to a teenage Bible-study club, the dark underside of high school life, and even the halls of political power. Now he must confront two shockingly different suspects with nothing in common—except a taste for sex and violence.

As Jackson’s manhunt intensifies, Kera becomes a marked woman, stalked by a crazed crusader. And when the fates of the detective and nurse intersect, a world of righteous rage, sexual secrecy, and chilling obsession threatens to blow them apart.

Secrets to Die For

by L.J. Sellers

Published 1 September 2009
When young social worker Raina Hughes arrives at a ramshackle trailer outside of town, she’s on a mission to protect a small boy from abusive parents. But when Detective Wade Jackson arrives at the same location hours later, his mission is far grimmer: investigating Raina’s murder.

The victim’s vicious death is a shocking event for laid-back Eugene, Oregon—and even more chilling when one of Jackson’s fellow officers suspects an elusive rapist whose appetite is turning murderous. Jackson thinks he’s got a tight case against the meth-head dad who menaced Raina, but the evidence seems to leave his suspect in the clear—and a homicidal sex offender still on the loose. What Jackson fears is that his new love affair with nurse Kera Kollmorgan may be knocking him off his game. And what he never expects is to find an ally in savvy reporter Sophie Speranza, who may have stumbled on the killer’s shocking motive. But even as Jackson and Sophie team up to tighten the noose, their quarry zeroes in on his next victim—ready to take his twisted game to the next level.

Crimes of Memory

by L.J. Sellers

Published 15 October 2013
Fresh off the leave-of-absence he took following his ex-wife’s tragic death, Detective Wade Jackson’s life is in upheaval. He struggles to keep his grief-stricken, out-of-control daughter, Katie, from succumbing to the same alcoholism demon as her mother, while trying to reinvigorate a passion for his work. When a body is found in a local storage unit, Jackson hopes a simple open-and-shut homicide case will help him get back on track. But when the victim is identified as ex-con Craig Cooper—a former meth addict who did time for bank robbery, the spoils of which were never recovered—it becomes quickly apparent that the case will be challenging.

The same night Cooper is murdered, a firebomb goes off in a bottled water factory on the other side of town. The prime suspects are from an organization called Love the Earth—eco-terrorists believed to be modeling themselves after the infamous Earth Liberation Front. Fears that new group is plotting another attack bring agents from the ATF and FBI to town, among them Jamie Dallas, an undercover agent with a wild streak, and Carla River, an FBI agent with a complicated past. When Jackson discovers a shocking link between the murder case and the bombing, they will have to work together to solve both crimes before they blow up in their faces.

Thrilled to Death

by L.J. Sellers

Published 15 September 2010
Monday morning, a young mother disappears after a doctor’s appointment.

Monday evening, a young socialite leaves a risqué lounge after an evening of drinking and never makes it home. Detective Wade Jackson, of Eugene, Oregon’s Violent Crimes Unit, ends up with both cases.

The missing mother is Danette Blake, a friend of the family, and all signs indicate she may have fled the pressures of life. But Jackson’s personal search for her must be set aside when Courtney, the socialite with rich, powerful parents, turns up mysteriously dead in a public place. Pressured by the chief of police, Jackson and his team descend into Courtney’s wanton world, uncovering a handful of suspects with disturbing motives.

Although it’s hardly the first time a case has led Jackson into dark territory, the discovery that the two disappearances are connected brings him face-to-face with the last person he expects. And leaves him wondering, where is the other missing woman?

Deadly Bonds

by L.J. Sellers

Published 26 August 2014
When a young mother is found murdered in a derelict Eugene neighborhood—and her terrified young son is discovered hiding beneath the floorboards—Detective Jackson reluctantly takes the case. His own life is already in chaos, with his runaway teenage daughter, Katie, still gone and his girlfriend, Kera, facing her own family crisis. Matters get more complicated when the orphaned boy bonds with Jackson, triggering unexpected emotions and compromising his ability to investigate. Meanwhile, Detective Evans, one of Jackson’s most valuable colleagues, is pulled off the case to look into the death of a University of Oregon football star—leaving the homicide task force shorthanded. As Jackson works to solve the murder and find a home for little Benjie, he soon faces devastating choices that threaten everything he holds dear.

Wrongful Death

by L.J. Sellers

Published 24 February 2015
On a chilly Oregon morning, a policeman is found slain near the homeless camp where he’d been passing out blankets the night before. When Detective Jackson is called to the scene, witnesses point to a pair of mentally ill street twins as the likely perpetrators.

As the case progresses and arrests are made, the homeless community revolts against the police, and the chaos pulls detectives away from their investigations. Tension mounts, and the evidence begins to link a series of sexual assaults to the death of the murdered officer. The task force is quickly faced with a dangerous decision: Should they risk the life of another young victim to catch the killer?

Dying for Justice

by L.J. Sellers

Published 23 March 2012
Ten years ago, Hector Vargas confessed to the cold-blooded murder of Detective Wade Jackson’s parents. Now, facing his own death, Vargas has reached out from prison to declare his innocence. Armed with the shocking new truth that dirty cops railroaded Vargas, Jackson must revisit the painful past to get justice for his parents—and jail the ruthless killer.

Meanwhile, Gina Stahl awakens from a two-year coma with a chilling message on her lips: He tried to kill me. Now Detective Lara Evans must probe the young woman’s desperate claim that her near death was not failed suicide, but attempted murder.

As their investigations intersect, Jackson tangles with his estranged brother, hunts a loan shark turned philanthropist, and confronts his parents’ long-buried secrets, while Evans contends with a relentless reporter, shadows a fellow cop with a dangerous reputation, and struggles with her feelings for Jackson. But the more dark revelations they make, the deadlier the resistance they face from a killer terrified of losing everything…and willing to stop at nothing.