Colleen Hayes Mystery
1 primary work • 6 total works
Book 1
USA Today best-selling author
An ex-con traces a victim’s clues to set a cold case ablaze
Between fending off a lecherous parole officer and trying to get by in 1978 San Francisco, private investigator Colleen Hayes struggles to put her life back together so she can reconnect with her runaway teenage daughter. Then her life changes dramatically. She accepts a case from wealthy, retired industrialist Edward Copeland. The old man is desperate to solve the brutal murder of his daughter, a murder that took place in Golden Gate Park eleven years earlier—during the Summer of Love. The case has since gone cold, her murderer never found. Now, in his final days, Copeland hires Colleen to find his daughter’s killer in hopes he might die in peace.
Colleen understands what it means to take a life—she spent a decade in prison for killing her ex. Battling her own demons, she immerses herself in San Francisco’s underbelly, where police corruption is rampant. Her investigation turns deadly as she pries for information, yet there is little to go on. However, a song on the radio makes her wonder—did the murdered girl leave any clues that others may have missed?
Perfect for fans of Elmore Leonard and Gillian Flynn
While all of the novels in the Colleen Hayes Mystery Series stand on their own and can be read in any order, the publication sequence is:
Vanishing in the Haight
Tie Die
Bad Scene
Line of Darkness
Night Candy (coming 2023)
An ex-con traces a victim’s clues to set a cold case ablaze
Between fending off a lecherous parole officer and trying to get by in 1978 San Francisco, private investigator Colleen Hayes struggles to put her life back together so she can reconnect with her runaway teenage daughter. Then her life changes dramatically. She accepts a case from wealthy, retired industrialist Edward Copeland. The old man is desperate to solve the brutal murder of his daughter, a murder that took place in Golden Gate Park eleven years earlier—during the Summer of Love. The case has since gone cold, her murderer never found. Now, in his final days, Copeland hires Colleen to find his daughter’s killer in hopes he might die in peace.
Colleen understands what it means to take a life—she spent a decade in prison for killing her ex. Battling her own demons, she immerses herself in San Francisco’s underbelly, where police corruption is rampant. Her investigation turns deadly as she pries for information, yet there is little to go on. However, a song on the radio makes her wonder—did the murdered girl leave any clues that others may have missed?
Perfect for fans of Elmore Leonard and Gillian Flynn
While all of the novels in the Colleen Hayes Mystery Series stand on their own and can be read in any order, the publication sequence is:
Vanishing in the Haight
Tie Die
Bad Scene
Line of Darkness
Night Candy (coming 2023)
USA Today Best-Selling Author
1978 San Francisco—a cult leader in Ecuador—one woman’s struggle to reconnect with her lost daughter before it is too late
When PI and ex-con, Colleen Hayes, learns that a local neo-Nazi group is talking about shooting the mayor, she thinks it’s just another rumor—until her source, a humble street newspaper vendor, winds up in SF General, beaten to a pulp.
To add to her grief, she discovers that her runaway daughter, Pamela, might have joined a shadowy religious group, building a church in South America near a volcano that is about to erupt. Death is the path to perfection according to the charismatic young preacher—and the date is fast approaching.
Colleen is desperate to find a way to stop her daughter from making the ultimate mistake before she—along with hundreds of others—lose their lives.
Perfect for fans of Harlan Coben’s gritty noir suspense
While all of the novels in the Colleen Hayes Mystery Series stand on their own and can be read in any order, the publication sequence is:
Vanishing in the Haight
Tie Die
Bad Scene
Line of Darkness (coming August 2022)
1978 San Francisco—a cult leader in Ecuador—one woman’s struggle to reconnect with her lost daughter before it is too late
When PI and ex-con, Colleen Hayes, learns that a local neo-Nazi group is talking about shooting the mayor, she thinks it’s just another rumor—until her source, a humble street newspaper vendor, winds up in SF General, beaten to a pulp.
To add to her grief, she discovers that her runaway daughter, Pamela, might have joined a shadowy religious group, building a church in South America near a volcano that is about to erupt. Death is the path to perfection according to the charismatic young preacher—and the date is fast approaching.
Colleen is desperate to find a way to stop her daughter from making the ultimate mistake before she—along with hundreds of others—lose their lives.
Perfect for fans of Harlan Coben’s gritty noir suspense
While all of the novels in the Colleen Hayes Mystery Series stand on their own and can be read in any order, the publication sequence is:
Vanishing in the Haight
Tie Die
Bad Scene
Line of Darkness (coming August 2022)
USA Today best-selling author
When the music stopped, it was murder
Back in London’s swinging '60s, Steve Cook was teen idol number one. But that changed when a sixteen-year-old fan was found dead in his hotel room bed. Steve’s career came to a crashing halt after he was dumped by his record company and arrested. Now, in 1978 San Francisco, Steve works construction, still dreaming of a comeback.
Until his eleven-year-old daughter is kidnapped.
Steve turns to one person for help: Colleen Hayes. She was quite a fan herself, back in the day. And she knows what it’s like to be on the wrong side of the law and live in judgement for the rest of your life.
It doesn’t take Colleen long to realize something fishy is going on with the kidnapping of Melanie Cook. What transpires is a harrowing journey through a music industry rife with corruption and crime. Colleen’s search takes her through San Francisco’s underbelly and all the way to '70s London, where she discovers a thread leading back to the death of a forgotten fan in Steve’s hotel room.
Perfect for fans of Harlan Coben’s noir suspense
When the music stopped, it was murder
Back in London’s swinging '60s, Steve Cook was teen idol number one. But that changed when a sixteen-year-old fan was found dead in his hotel room bed. Steve’s career came to a crashing halt after he was dumped by his record company and arrested. Now, in 1978 San Francisco, Steve works construction, still dreaming of a comeback.
Until his eleven-year-old daughter is kidnapped.
Steve turns to one person for help: Colleen Hayes. She was quite a fan herself, back in the day. And she knows what it’s like to be on the wrong side of the law and live in judgement for the rest of your life.
It doesn’t take Colleen long to realize something fishy is going on with the kidnapping of Melanie Cook. What transpires is a harrowing journey through a music industry rife with corruption and crime. Colleen’s search takes her through San Francisco’s underbelly and all the way to '70s London, where she discovers a thread leading back to the death of a forgotten fan in Steve’s hotel room.
Perfect for fans of Harlan Coben’s noir suspense
USA Today Best-Selling Author
1978 San Francisco—a cult leader in Ecuador—one woman’s struggle to reconnect with her lost daughter before it is too late
When PI and ex-con, Colleen Hayes, learns that a local neo-Nazi group is talking about shooting the mayor, she thinks it’s just another rumor—until her source, a humble street newspaper vendor, winds up in SF General, beaten to a pulp.
To add to her grief, she discovers that her runaway daughter, Pamela, might have joined a shadowy religious group, building a church in South America near a volcano that is about to erupt. Death is the path to perfection according to the charismatic young preacher—and the date is fast approaching.
Colleen is desperate to find a way to stop her daughter from making the ultimate mistake before she—along with hundreds of others—lose their lives.
Perfect for fans of Harlan Coben’s gritty noir suspense
While all of the novels in the Colleen Hayes Mystery Series stand on their own and can be read in any order, the publication sequence is:
Vanishing in the Haight
Tie Die
Bad Scene
Line of Darkness
Night Candy (coming 2023)
1978 San Francisco—a cult leader in Ecuador—one woman’s struggle to reconnect with her lost daughter before it is too late
When PI and ex-con, Colleen Hayes, learns that a local neo-Nazi group is talking about shooting the mayor, she thinks it’s just another rumor—until her source, a humble street newspaper vendor, winds up in SF General, beaten to a pulp.
To add to her grief, she discovers that her runaway daughter, Pamela, might have joined a shadowy religious group, building a church in South America near a volcano that is about to erupt. Death is the path to perfection according to the charismatic young preacher—and the date is fast approaching.
Colleen is desperate to find a way to stop her daughter from making the ultimate mistake before she—along with hundreds of others—lose their lives.
Perfect for fans of Harlan Coben’s gritty noir suspense
While all of the novels in the Colleen Hayes Mystery Series stand on their own and can be read in any order, the publication sequence is:
Vanishing in the Haight
Tie Die
Bad Scene
Line of Darkness
Night Candy (coming 2023)
Post-war darkness may be the darkest of them all—Nazi-hunters reach deep into 1979 San Francisco
When a German businesswoman in 1979 San Francisco hires ex-con PI Colleen Hayes to find a missing relative, supposedly in town to visit, she thinks it’s a simple job. But she soon discovers that the “nephew” is linked to an international vigilante group hunting down ex-Nazis. Then the body of a mysterious woman turns up on San Francisco’s Municipal Railway, mirroring a murder committed the week before in Buenos Aires where the “nephew” had just been.
Colleen’s search uncovers a World War II banknote and the 1942 SS ID of a German officer long thought dead. When Colleen fails to heed warnings to stop her investigation, her pregnant daughter is attacked.
The so-called nephew is nowhere to be found. The German businesswoman has fled town. Colleen’s search leads her to Italy where the infamous Vatican Ratlines helped escaped ex-Nazis forge new identities around the globe. Deep in the Italian Alps, she uncovers a secret project hatched in a concentration camp. Colleen has no choice but to push ahead if the killing is to stop and justice prevail.
Perfect for fans of Steve Berry and Harlan Coben
While all of the novels in the Colleen Hayes Mystery Series stand on their own and can be read in any order, the publication sequence is:
Vanishing in the Haight
Tie Die
Bad Scene
Line of Darkness
Night Candy (coming 2023)
When a German businesswoman in 1979 San Francisco hires ex-con PI Colleen Hayes to find a missing relative, supposedly in town to visit, she thinks it’s a simple job. But she soon discovers that the “nephew” is linked to an international vigilante group hunting down ex-Nazis. Then the body of a mysterious woman turns up on San Francisco’s Municipal Railway, mirroring a murder committed the week before in Buenos Aires where the “nephew” had just been.
Colleen’s search uncovers a World War II banknote and the 1942 SS ID of a German officer long thought dead. When Colleen fails to heed warnings to stop her investigation, her pregnant daughter is attacked.
The so-called nephew is nowhere to be found. The German businesswoman has fled town. Colleen’s search leads her to Italy where the infamous Vatican Ratlines helped escaped ex-Nazis forge new identities around the globe. Deep in the Italian Alps, she uncovers a secret project hatched in a concentration camp. Colleen has no choice but to push ahead if the killing is to stop and justice prevail.
Perfect for fans of Steve Berry and Harlan Coben
While all of the novels in the Colleen Hayes Mystery Series stand on their own and can be read in any order, the publication sequence is:
Vanishing in the Haight
Tie Die
Bad Scene
Line of Darkness
Night Candy (coming 2023)
1970s San Francisco: the sights, the sounds, the serial killers
As the ’70s draw to a close in San Francisco, things do not bode well for the city—or for ex-con PI Colleen Hayes, whose daughter Pam, in a tragic turn of events, has lost her baby. Pam leaves San Francisco, and Colleen, who moved there to reunite with her, starts to wonder what she’s doing in the Bay Area.
Meanwhile, a serial killer given the name “Night Candy” is targeting sex workers, both male and female. The situation doesn’t improve when Colleen’s friend and ally—SFPD Inspector Owens—is arrested for the murder of his ex-wife, who was found burned in a fire the same night the pair had tried to rekindle their love. Could Owens have really done what they say? Even Colleen has her doubts.
But there are people depending on her: Owens, who needs help finding his ex-wife’s real killer, and a trio of sex workers Colleen keeps her eye on—especially with Night Candy on the loose. Then, one of the three girls is next to disappear. If anything is to test Colleen’s resolve, December 1979 seems to be it.
Perfect for fans of Steve Berry and Harlan Coben
While all of the novels in the Colleen Hayes Mystery Series stand on their own and can be read in any order, the publication sequence is:
Vanishing in the Haight
Tie Die
Bad Scene
Line of Darkness
Night Candy
As the ’70s draw to a close in San Francisco, things do not bode well for the city—or for ex-con PI Colleen Hayes, whose daughter Pam, in a tragic turn of events, has lost her baby. Pam leaves San Francisco, and Colleen, who moved there to reunite with her, starts to wonder what she’s doing in the Bay Area.
Meanwhile, a serial killer given the name “Night Candy” is targeting sex workers, both male and female. The situation doesn’t improve when Colleen’s friend and ally—SFPD Inspector Owens—is arrested for the murder of his ex-wife, who was found burned in a fire the same night the pair had tried to rekindle their love. Could Owens have really done what they say? Even Colleen has her doubts.
But there are people depending on her: Owens, who needs help finding his ex-wife’s real killer, and a trio of sex workers Colleen keeps her eye on—especially with Night Candy on the loose. Then, one of the three girls is next to disappear. If anything is to test Colleen’s resolve, December 1979 seems to be it.
Perfect for fans of Steve Berry and Harlan Coben
While all of the novels in the Colleen Hayes Mystery Series stand on their own and can be read in any order, the publication sequence is:
Vanishing in the Haight
Tie Die
Bad Scene
Line of Darkness
Night Candy