Showing results by author "Renee Pawlish" in All Categories

Ex-Army Civil Affairs specialist Jo Gunning is a loner. No commitments. No fixed address. She's enjoying her anonymity in Virginia when she crosses paths with a runaway teenage girl in need. Assisting the girl in getting home leads to a phone call for help, and a claim from the girl that her father is holding her hostage. As Jo searches for answers, she finds that nothing is what it seems, and no one is telling the truth.

Potential client Brad Webb asks Denver private investigator Reed Ferguson to look into the decades-old murder of Brad's grandfather, Dewey Webb. Dewey was a Denver-based private detective who died mysteriously in 1955, and although Reed is intrigued, he doesn't see much promise in solving the case. After all, the police didn't find Dewey's killer at the time, and 70 years have passed, leaving a cold trail. However, Reed accepts the case, and as he is drawn back into both the underworld and the elite society of 1950s Denver.

She was a prostitute, young and alone, a discard of society. No one cared she was dead except Denver Homicide detective Sarah Spillman. As she searches for a killer, Sarah finds that those who knew the woman didn’t care, either. Sarah uncovers few motives and even fewer clues. At the same time, her commander asks her to assist on another investigation, the drowning death of a homeless man, another forgotten member of society. However, he happened to be the son of the lieutenant governor.

For Denver Homicide detective Sarah Spillman, a secret from her past haunts each new investigation and could derail her hard-earned career. A missing boy’s body is found in a dumpster in a seemingly idyllic Denver neighborhood, and the list of suspects includes the boy’s mother and father. Sarah barely begins her investigation when a man who lived nearby is also discovered dead, an apparent suicide. Sarah continues to dig deeper, looking for a link between the two deaths, only to find the lies are piling up.

Denver homicide detective Sarah Spillman is called to investigate the rape and murder of a young woman. With few clues, Sarah delves into the woman’s life and finds the most recent to see her are an angry ex-boyfriend and a mysterious stranger. But would either kill her? At the same time, Sarah confronts her own past, not realizing how close to home this killer will strike.

Jo Gunning returns! Ex-Army Civil Affairs specialist and loner Jo Gunning is trying to lead a quiet life, but that’s interrupted when her friend, Dack, requests her help. She can’t turn him down, and he sends her to Mexico to provide security for millionaire businessman Chandler Holmes and his family.

A car found at a park, a woman’s body inside. It appeared Dr. Amy Babbitt had a good life. Did she commit suicide, or did someone want her dead? As Denver Homicide Detective Sarah Spillman delves into Amy’s life, the details don’t add up, but the suspect list does. Everyone is keeping secrets, and someone is willing to kill to keep theirs hidden. And as Sarah investigates, she must confront her own dark past. Revenge is a dish best served dead.

Former Army Civil Affairs specialist Jo Gunning thought a quiet visit with her family would be the safest thing she could do. Until a threat from the past crashes back into her life—fast, dangerous, and personal. When her family disappears, Jo doesn’t know if the culprit is Thad Dunwoody, the man whose operation she destroyed, or another enemy she’s made along the way. As the danger closes in, she’s pulled into a deadly game of cat and mouse that stretches from small-town streets to the dark corners of her own history.

Amber is barely holding it together. In the midst of a messy divorce, sometimes the only thing that gets her out of bed is spying on her handsome neighbor Caleb. She fantasizes about trading places with Caleb’s spouse and makes it no secret that she’d kill for that kind of life. Her words come back to haunt her when Caleb’s wife is murdered and Amber becomes a top suspect.

When a Denver judge is brutally slain, Detective Sarah Spillman inherits her biggest case yet. Discovered with the body is a note: Your judgment is coming. Who would want to murder a judge whose reputation for integrity and fairness is well-known? No sooner do Sarah and her team delve into the case than a killer strikes again, the victim another judge. An identical note is found at the crime scene; however, no link appears to exist between the two judges. Sarah’s instincts tell her there is more to the murders than meets the eye.

The first three mysteries in the acclaimed Dewey Webb series: Web of Deceit, Murder in Fashion, and Secrets and Lies. It's 1949. World War II is over, but it has a way of haunting people for years to come. Meet Dewey Webb, a hard-boiled 1940s detective, a man of contradictions who gets down and dirty to get the job done.

It’s 1949, and Denver private investigator Dewey Webb isn’t thinking about murder. He’s pondering the stack of bills he can’t pay. Then, he runs into an old army acquaintance Roy Jefferson, who is well-dressed, flashing cash, and wanting Dewey’s help. Dewey has his suspicions, however, Roy pays him substantially just to meet him later and hear his problem. Dewey agrees, but before they can talk, Roy dies, an apparent suicide. But is that really the case?

When her sister’s friend, who works at a top-secret biolab, mysteriously disappears, Jo’s sister wants help to find her, and Jo can't say no. As she begins her search, Jo stirs up more than she bargained for, and her questions reveal an unknown and deadly enemy who can’t afford for her to discover the truth. Soon danger threatens her family, and Jo must use all her training to protect them and find answers.

Ex-Army Civil Affairs specialist and loner Jo Gunning is headed west, but she detours and finds herself in a small town in rural Alabama. First, she runs afoul of local law enforcement, and then the owner of the local café asks Jo to find the truth about her nephew’s death.

It's 1949. World War II is over, but it has a way of haunting people for years to come. Gordon Sandalwood suspects his wife Edith is hiding something from him, and he asks Denver private investigator Dewey Webb to find out what. Dewey, toughened by his own war experiences, reluctantly takes the case, certain it will lead to nothing. But when he sees Edith rendezvous with a mysterious man, Dewey realizes his assumptions might be wrong.

Reed Ferguson loves film noir and classic detective fiction, and he wants more than anything to emulate his hero, Humphrey Bogart. So Reed tries his hand at the detecting business and what follows is a humorous journey into suspense territory.

Ex-Army Civil Affairs specialist Jo Gunning is on a personal errand when she and other customers are taken hostage during a robbery at a Dallas bank. Her instincts kick in immediately, and she does what she can to keep the hostages safe. Once the robbers flee the bank, Jo is debriefed by the police, and only then does she realize there’s something she missed. Driven by a desire for answers, Jo starts her own investigation into the robbery, which leads her to unseen enemies who will do anything to keep secrets buried.

When I receive a call from a mysterious woman seeking my help to escape her abusive husband, I can’t refuse, even though I'm supposed to meet my future in-laws in twenty-four hours. Like my hero, Humphrey Bogart, I am a sucker for a damsel in distress, but the woman disappears before I can whisk her to safety, and I feel compelled to find her. As I dig deeper into her identity, I discover her husband, a high-profile attorney, has secrets that could destroy his political aspirations.

After a tumultuous time in Colorado, Jo Gunning journeys west, where she encounters a couple whose daughter has joined a religious commune outside Las Vegas. Fearful that the commune’s charismatic religious leader may have harmed their daughter, they ask Jo for help. Jo has no job, no responsibility, and a burning desire to help others. She agrees to look for their daughter, but in order to find answers, she must join the religious group. What she discovers is as disturbing as anything she’s ever faced.

It’s the end of 1949, and Denver Private Investigator Dewey Webb is asked to do what seems like a simple thing: Find Jasper Caffrey’s daughter, Nora, who hasn’t been seen or heard from in days. Nora is wild, and trouble seems to find her. Was she the victim of foul play, or has she run away from home? As Dewey hunts for Nora, from the richest sections of the city to the jazz clubs in the Five Points neighborhood, he uncovers secrets about the Caffreys that may explain Nora’s disappearance, and he encounters a cast of characters who all want him dead.