"Finally settled into their new home after losing their house in a fire, and fully established in their new shared offices, private investigator Sharon McCone and her business partner husband Hy are starting to feel comfortable. That calm is shattered when Hy's former colleague Gage Renshaw--a shady troublemaker who they had presumed dead reappears, and it's unclear what he wants from his prosperous former associate. Meanwhile, Sharon has a new client...

Special agent Kathryn Dance and her partners at the California Bureau of Investigation hunt down escaped killer Daniel Pell, a self-styled Charles Manson. Pell is a master of control, who mesmerizes, seduces, and exploits people for his own murderous ends. Pell embarks on a mysterious and deadly quest once he's free.

Madriani is faced with daunting ballistics evidence: a so-called "double tap"--two bullet wounds tightly grouped in the victim's head, shots that could have been made only by a crack marksman. Paul's client, Emiliano Ruiz, is an enigma--a career soldier who refuses to discuss his past though it is clear that he is a battle-tested pro. Ruiz is accused of killing a beautiful businesswoman and guru of a high-tech software empire catering to the military....

Beware of the cat striking back. On a lovely moonlit night, Joe Grey is minding his own business, carrying a gift of mice to a litter of kittens, when he stumbles upon a murder scene. Behind an empty house lies a swimming pool, its bottom covered with mud. There is also blood, the smell of human death, and drag marks. But there is no victim. Without a body, it's a crime that will be hard to prove. With stubborn feline curiosity, Joe Grey sets out...

Jack Till, who has retired from the LAPD after a respected career as a homicide detective, now works as a private investigator, comfortable chasing down routine cases while visiting his 24-year-old daughter, Holly, who has Down Syndrome. But when the parents of a recently murdered young girl, about Holly's age, ask for his help when the police come up empty, Till reluctantly takes the case. It was discovered after her death that the victim had been...

Since the Gold Rush, California prospectors have siphoned off the waters of isolated Tufa Lake, exposing the fragile, otherworldly mineral formation of the lake basin. Now a local environmental group seeks to block the latest incursion by developers - a massive mining operation funded by TransPacific, a U.S.-Hong Kong interest that seems to be behind a series of break-ins, disappearances, and shady land deals. Into this stark lunar landscape walks...

"As the owner of Coffee, Books, and More, Jill Gardner likes to support other Main Street businesses, so she attends a paint-and-sip event where, sadly, her brushstrokes look more like blobs. It's still fun, though--aside from some disruption by a couple doing more sipping than painting. Jill's police-detective boyfriend is on alert, but a designated driver volunteers to take the drunken pair back to their bed and breakfast, and everything seems resolved....

"Fadeout is the first of Joseph Hansen's twelve classic mysteries featuring rugged Dave Brandstetter, an insurance investigator who is contentedly gay. When entertainer Fox Olson's car plunges off a bridge in a storm, a death claim is filed, but where is Olson's body? As Brandstetter questions family, fans, and detractors, he grows certain Olson is still alive and that Dave must find him before the would-be killer does. Suspenseful and wry, shrewd...

When "the Samaritan," a sadistic serial killer who preys on lone female drivers whose cars have broken down, leaves behind a new victim in the Santa Monica Mountains, LAPD Detective Jessica Allen must find a way to stop him with the help of skilled manhunter Carter Blake. "The Samaritan" is a sadistic serial killer preying on lone female drivers whose cars have broken down-- and has been undetected for a decade. When Carter Blake shows up to volunteer...

For Benni, the annual San Celina Mid-State Fair is a much anticipated break in her normal routine of overseeing museum exhibits, temperamental artists and stubborn cattle. Even her police chief husband, Gabe Ortiz, takes time from his busy schedule to enjoy the fair's activities and exotic fried foods....