Showing results by author "Blair Howard" in All Categories

Kingsley Lynch fell to her death from a seven-story, downtown rooftop garden. Was it an accident, suicide, or was she pushed? The two detectives assigned to the case decided she jumped. Her husband, an influential city councilor disagrees, and six weeks later Kate Gazzara is assigned to reinvestigate.

A missing person, two murders, an enigmatic Irishman, and a billion-dollar Ponzi scheme bring Harry Starke, Captain Kate Gazzara and her trusty K9 companion, Samson, together again in a bewildering detective thriller that takes them deep into the seedy side of New York City,

On a balmy afternoon in May 2002, wealthy stockbroker Peter Nicholson was turkey hunting with three friends in Prentice Cooper State Forest when he tripped, fell on his shotgun, and accidentally shot himself … dead, but did he? Fifteen years later, as a last resort, Nicholson’s mother asks Harry Starke to find the truth. As we all know, Harry loves a cold case, but … as always, there’s a twist in the tale.

Eight years ago, Luther McNeer was convicted of his wife’s brutal murder. The evidence was damning: his clothes were soaked in her blood, no signs of forced entry, and a sketchy alibi about sleeping through the entire ordeal. But his brother Vinny has never stopped believing in Luther’s innocence. Private investigators Mallory Carver and Tucker Randall have perfected their professional partnership, though neither will admit that their crackling chemistry extends far beyond case files and stake-outs. That is until they discover a string of similar murders spanning multiple jurisdictions.

When prominent defense attorney Madison Lombardi drops dead on the street outside her office of a perceived heart attack, no one pays much attention . . . Except for her husband. When a second attorney, her law partner, drops dead a week later in almost the exact same spot, more people begin to pay attention, including police chief Wesley Johnston. Homicide detective Kate Gazzara, much to her dismay, is assigned what appears to be little more than a case of coinciding medical events. However, appearances can be deceiving, and Kate remains unconvinced by the notion of mere coincidences.

Mystery woman, Morrigan Doyle, is in prison. Finn Doyle, her son, has ties to the Irish mob in New York. He became acquainted with Harry Starke when Harry was investigating his mother’s billion-dollar Ponzi scheme. But Finn has an agenda of his own and wants to hire Harry to “find a friend,” Matteo Rossi. Rossi, a low-level thug, a soldier in the Irish mob, is missing and Finn is worried, thinking someone has “offed him,” and he wants to know who. Initially, Harry turns Finn down.

Maggie Hart, a student at UTC, was abducted on Labor Day. Her body was found five days later on the RiverPark. She’d been strangled. She wasn’t the first, nor would she be the last. Harry Starke, recovering from a near-death experience, is dragged reluctantly into an investigation that quickly turns into a cat and mouse game between Harry and a very clever killer, Harry being the mouse. Emoji is an action-packed, lightning-paced story, with an explosive finale you’ll not see coming.

Twenty-one years ago, Harry Starke, on his first case as lead detective made a mistake, a mistake that sent an innocent man to prison for life. Now, haunted by the past, and with new evidence, he must finish what he started and find the real killer. A killer that will do anything to hide the past.

In 1982, ten-year-old Emma Jacobs disappeared while on her way home from school. Almost four decades later the case file lands on Kate Gazzara’s desk. A cursory review of the case quickly turns into a personal nightmare for her team member, Detective Anne Robar. Haunted by vague, shadowy memories, of her own abduction more than thirty-seven years ago, Anne becomes consumed by them.

“Stand absolutely still, Amanda,” she read, “and you won’t get hurt.” Two seconds later a bullet from a sniper’s rifle shattered the driver’s side window of her Lexus SUV. That’s how it began, early on a Friday morning when Amanda, Harry’s wife, found the note tucked under her windshield wiper. The incident was quickly followed by a series of events that would put his family and friends in deadly danger and test Harry to his limits.