Natalie Dvorak Mysteries Series

Natalie Dvorak Mysteries #1 Detective Sergeant Natalie Dvorak has had a lot to prove since joining the Vermont State Police. It's 1982 and not all the boys like to work with a "lady cop". Dvorak's hard work and tough exterior demands the respect of male skeptics both on and off the force. In the remote town of Holbrook, a body turns up with one of the detective's cards in his pocket. The man had been out to prove his brother innocent of murder but is now a victim himself. Sergeant Dvorak must not only investigate the crime, following a trail of clues from a lonely, abandoned farmhouse to a second-rate nursing home, but also tread carefully in a love affair with a married cop. As she nears capture of a dangerous killer, a freak snowstorm adds to the danger Dvorak faces.

Natalie Dvorak Mysteries #3 When a Sasquatch researcher turns up dead in a state park, one of his colleagues blames the legendary monster for the killing. Detective-Sergeant Natalie Dvorak of the Vermont State Police isn't buying it but her investigation doesn't turn up any obvious human suspects. An important witness goes missing and new signs of the Sasquatch appear even as the wife of Natalie's boyfriend complicates the detective's personal life. Natalie joins with the remaining bigfoot hunters on an expedition that leads to a frightening incident. Are the strange occurrences the work of a mysterious beast or the plot of monstrous humans?

Natalie Dvorak Mysteries #6 The body of a young man found in a wrecked car was dead before the crash. Detective-Sergeant Natalie Dvorak of the Vermont State Police investigates the murder with the help of her niece Melanie whose friend Jenny lent the dead man money. Was his debt to Jenny related to the killing? As Natalie interviews the victim’s associates, she begins to unravel two criminal conspiracies in her own backyard. She soon has a list of suspects, all of whom have secrets. But which of them has a motive that could have led to murder?

Natalie Dvorak Mysteries #2 Following a suspension after closing the Mercury Man case, Detective-Sergeant Natalie Dvorak is back on the job with the Vermont State Police at full rank. Her latest case has Dvorak on the trail of brutal killers whose crime complicates Dvorak’s own personal life, threatening someone she holds dear. A demo tape of songs containing racist lyrics proves to be a vital clue to the murderers’ identity, suggesting they will fight to the death rather than surrender. To catch the Singing Shooters, Sergeant Dvorak seeks help from a hostile teenage girl and an old flame she once put in prison.

Natalie Dvorak Mysteries #4 Fifty years after Calvin Coolidge’s death, Leonard Hemmings, the late president’s greatest fan and impersonator, has been murdered. Detective Sergeant Natalie Dvorak of the Vermont State Police must find out why the kindly grandfather was targeted and by whom. Complicating the investigation is Natalie’s ex-husband, back in her life after many years for a not-so-happy reunion. Meanwhile, Natalie deals with the pressures of being a supportive wife, a responsible stepmother, and a caring aunt. A suspected conspiracy reaches into both Natalie’s work and family lives as she draws nearer to solving the case.

Vermont State Police Detective-Sergeant Natalie Dvorak is looking for a suspected killer. The trail leads to an isolated house presided over by “Mother” Frances, a woman with dark secrets. She is prepared to take ruthless action against anyone who might disrupt her home, where she has taken in a small group of senior citizens. Mother Frances and her childlike housekeeper try to hide the truth from Natalie when she visits the house. Constrained by rules of evidence and haunted by controversy from another murder case, Natalie pushes forward in her investigation, placing herself in more danger than she bargained for, including a deadly game of hide and seek.

Natalie Dvorak #9 Detective Sergeant Natalie Dvorak of the Vermont State Police was an experienced homicide investigator. Yet there was one murder case that she never talked about. Twenty-five years before, seven young people shared a cabin in the woods. One of them was murdered, another was convicted of the crime. Now only two of the seven remain alive. When evidence of a hit list is uncovered at the site of a fatal car accident, Natalie discovers she has been targeted by a hidden killer. The other target is the man who was once Natalie’s high school sweetheart. Can Natalie save them both when the only person with a clear motive is already dead?

Natalie Dvorak #10: Vermont State Police Detective-Sergeant Natalie Dvorak gets a new partner as she investigates the case of Lee Roser, a quiet loner who lives in an isolated house in the woods. Roser has been reported missing by his half-brother but a tenant in the house claims Roser has left the country. Natalie and her partner come across a private detective who’s also looking for Lee Roser but won’t say why. Evidence of a decades-old love affair emerges along with a story about a missing treasure dating back to the days of the independent Vermont Republic. The missing person case turns into a homicide and one cop’s mistake threatens to undermine the whole investigation.

Natalie Dvorak #13: Sergeant Natalie Dvorak of the Vermont State Police is the investigating officer at the scene of a traffic fatality. It is an unpleasant yet routine duty and the person killed at the scene of the accident was a prominent citizen. The man’s wife has survived but is in critical condition. The accident itself is an easily closed case but the victims’ family gathers for a vigil around the injured woman. Control of a big company and a life insurance payout are at stake. When a second death occurs the cause is unnatural but who committed murder? There are several people with a motive but the instrument of death is not a handy, household item. Natalie and her partners on the detective squad find rivalries among the survivors, anger and resentment, power struggles and mutual suspicions. Meanwhile, the police have to deal with public outrage against one of their own, something that threatens to distract Natalie from her murder investigation.

Natalie Dvorak #11: Sergeant Natalie Dvorak of the Vermont State Police starts the first day of the New Year with a crime. Someone has opened and robbed the safe inside Verna Mae’s diner, a popular eatery along the highway. There was no break-in and Natalie assumes this was an inside job. Every employee is a suspect but none have an obvious motive. Tensions and secrets emerge among the people Natalie investigates, generating false leads and prompting additional crimes. Meanwhile, Natalie’s faith in her husband is tested when he helps a new female colleague settle in at town hall. Over and over, when Natalie thinks she is in control, new developments cause the ground to shift under her feet both figuratively and literally, to the point of threatening Natalie’s life.

Natalie Dvorak #14: Twenty years have passed since the sensational March Madness murders Natalie Dvorak worked as a State Police detective in Vermont. Now the subject of a true crime network TV show, Natalie is allowed to watch an advance copy of the episode. Natalie is retired from the force and living in the desert southwest in the wake of a personal loss. She is critical of the program at first, talking back to the TV screen and recording rebuttal remarks for relatives who will be watching it later. But Natalie gets caught up in the memories of this case, two murders connected with a program meant to help troubled teenagers. Some of the kids got involved in illegal activity that may have put themselves and others in extreme danger. Natalie solved the case in 1987 and now watches it unfold all over again after the turn of the century.

Natalie Dvorak #12: Who killed the woman whose body was found inside an old shed in the woods? Detective-Sergeant Natalie Dvorak of the Vermont State Police is on the case. Her regular partner is out of the investigation because the murdered woman was one of his ex-girlfriends. Natalie’s suspects include a has-been retired movie comedian. His alibi checks out but a blackmailer seems to think the funnyman is guilty. Does a threatening call come from someone who is concealing evidence for personal gain? A confrontation at an amusement park ties up all but the most important loose end. Natalie must race through the back roads of Vermont to catch a dangerous killer before there are any more victims.

Natalie Dvorak Mystery #7 One Saturday morning, the youngest son of a rural crime family pays a surprise visit to his boyhood home. When the new owner lodges a complaint, the case is escalated to Detective-Sergeant Natalie Dvorak of the Vermont State Police. Natalie is on the verge of discovering the family’s secret when a mysterious stranger comes down from Canada with revenge on his mind. A desperate deal among criminals leads to violence and death with Natalie leading the effort to track a killer and his kidnap victim. The authorities struggle to find him before he either escapes or adds to the body count. (105)

Natalie Dvorak Mystery #8 Detective Sergeant Natalie Dvorak of the Vermont State Police travels to New Mexico on assignment to retrieve a fugitive for extradition. Before the paperwork is complete, a prominent local citizen turns up dead from a bullet and Natalie’s fugitive becomes the Sheriff’s prime suspect in the murder. But Natalie doubts the accused is a killer. She persuades the Sheriff to expand the investigation, discovering that the dead man had a number of enemies in the county. Can Natalie find the real murderer in the unfamiliar desert territory or has she underestimated her fugitive’s potential for violence?

Natalie Dvorak #19: Word of a drug trafficking scheme sends Detective-Sergeant Natalie Dvorak of the Vermont State Police on an undercover assignment. She poses as the newest tenant in a low-income apartment building to find out which resident is supposed to accept and move a package of valuable hashish. All the police know is where and when the handoff is to take place; Natalie’s question is who among the eleven tenants has been recruited. With help from the apartment building’s night manager, an ex-prizefighter, Natalie assesses the various prospective drug couriers. Disguised as a frumpy older woman, Natalie meets a variety of people who either had money and lost it or never had money to begin with. Could one of the casual drug users or small time dealers be looking to move up to something more profitable and dangerous? And with emotions running high at Maple Leaf Estates what could compromise Natalie’s investigation or even blow her cover?

Natalie Dvorak #17: On a special assignment out of state, Detective-Sergeant Natalie Dvorak of the Vermont State Police is reunited with her former partner, now a US Marshal. Together, they travel to Minnesota’s Lake Country to interview a man in the Federal Witness Protection Program. A murder disrupts their assignment and the case is worked by the local police. When the prime suspect turns up dead as an apparent suicide, Police Chief Kate Petrovic is not satisfied but the case is closed. She is soon subjected to pressure from the mayor, whose reelection is jeopardized by the murder-suicide, and is forced to reopen the investigation. Kate’s personal life becomes more complicated and is soon tainted by tragedy. A family friend’s dark past is uncovered just as Kate finds the strength to overcome adversity. Natalie returns to Minnesota for a celebration, but she becomes involved in the final act of a dangerous killer.

Natalie Dvorak #15: Natalie Dvorak has earned a vacation from her job as a Vermont State Police detective. But crime continues back home as Natalie takes in the sun. Her young partner catches a drug case that leads to a task force investigation in the state’s largest town. Meanwhile, Natalie’s own brother makes an amateur inquiry after the son of a theater director goes missing in the same community. The police find out what the missing young man has been doing but don’t know who he is; Natalie’s brother knows who the young man is but not what he’s been up to. Dangerous criminals are involved and Natalie is pulled into the case as soon as she’s back in Vermont. By the time Natalie finds out what her brother has been playing at, a murder has been committed; what does the missing person know about the killing? Included in this volume: The Rick Wagner Mysteries by Siegfried Feller – the author’s father wrote his own police procedurals more than fifty years ago. Did the apple fall far from the tree?

Natalie Dvorak #16: Detective-Sergeant Natalie Dvorak of the Vermont State Police is confronted with a series of homicides in which the victims are people she might have arrested had she known what they were doing. Has someone decided they deserved to die? The circumstances surrounding the killings bring back memories for Natalie of a time when she was a victim. Can she uncover the plot and prevent more extra-legal executions in a state that doesn’t have the death penalty? When there is no sympathy for the targets of vigilantes can there be justice?

Natalie Dvorak #20: Detective-Sergeant Natalie Dvorak of the Vermont State Police says goodbye to her mother at a family funeral. Two of her friends attend the service to lend support, Chief Kate Billings of the Lake Dakib, Minnesota, Police and Lieutenant Cheryl Grant of the Burlington Police Department. After the funeral, the three “sisters of the badge” gather at Natalie’s home to share stories of police work during the past year. In “The Hard Freeze”, Kate tells the story of a body found frozen in lake ice that reopens a missing person case now ruled a homicide. The victim was a young handyman who seemed to be well-liked in the community. But popularity can breed resentment among certain individuals. Could that be enough to make someone kill? Cheryl’s problem in “Community Policing” is a rookie cop whom Cheryl tried to remove from the force. The veteran lieutenant and the young patrol officer clash over how to deal with a homeless man; when a wrongful death occurs, Cheryl takes charge of the investigation while her teenage son gets into trouble. Natalie tells her friends about “A Haunted Homicide” at an abandoned old house. Preparing to film a horror movie on location, the author of the original story spends the night at the house but turns up dead by morning. A producer, a director, the film’s leading lady, and a production assistant are all suspects, assuming a ghost didn’t commit the crime.

Natalie Dvorak #18: A sleazy motel in rural Vermont becomes the focal point for a series of crimes including a robbery-homicide that brings Detective-Sergeant Natalie Dvorak onto the scene. The killing seems unusually brutal and physical evidence indicates the murderer was a giant of a man. Meanwhile a motel guest becomes another victim but survives the encounter. Whether to involve the police when the chance to recover stolen property becomes the question the crime victim must decide. Back in her small town home, Natalie’s husband gets involved when a stalker apparently returns to threaten his friend and colleague in local government. What can he do as the only police officer in town when the intruder might turn violent? Another robbery goes beyond the motel crime in a scale of violence that shocks the community. The killer’s connection to organized crime in Boston comes to light, raising the stakes further as a gang boss reaches across the state line to seek revenge. Can Natalie and her husband defend their state and town’s citizens against psychopathic outsiders?

Natalie Dvorak #21: More than twenty years have passed since Natalie Dvorak’s cousin Lada escaped the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. But Lada returned to Prague a few months later only to disappear, leaving her American relatives to fear the worst. Now, as Czechoslovakia moves towards democracy, Natalie is a detective in the Vermont State Police. Lada has reached out across time and space to her cousins and makes her return to the United States for a long-delayed reunion. Lada reports a long prison term under the former communist regime the charge of espionage. At the same time, Natalie’s older brother Henry, a university professor, is hosting a woman who has also come from Prague and has a speaking engagement on campus. Natalie begins to wonder if Lada’s return might be more than an emotional visit with the American cousins. Is Lada really the person she claims to be? What about the guest speaker and yet another Czech refugee, Henry’s colleague on the university faculty? When the three of them converge, will Natalie and her family witness something dangerous?

Natalie Dvorak #22: Detective-Sergeant Natalie Dvorak has a new boss at the State Police barracks. He’s young, enthusiastic, and a nuisance to the established team of investigators. Natalie’s colleagues Sharon Fallon and Harry Wainwright are already working the case of a man who finds his victims in the local paper’s personal ads. Sharon meets the physical type and becomes the bait when the police place their own ad. The potential physical danger for Sharon is complicated by personal feelings after a breakup with Sharon’s own fiancé. Meanwhile, a snitch tips the lieutenant about a drug buy going down and Natalie joins the operation against a father and son criminal team. But it all goes wrong and a police mistake touches off a bloody multiple homicide. Natalie is sure she knows who the killers are but can she prove it?

Vermont State Police Detective Natalie Dvorak has been put in charge of the investigative unit of the Rutland barracks through circumstances beyond her control. Dealing with a personal matter between two of the detectives is a nuisance for Natalie but then a wrongful death case refocuses her energy. A man with a secret to tell has turned up dead and Natalie needs to figure out who among a professional association of real estate developers may be responsible. At the same time, a private detective named Kirsten Vahle is conducting a parallel investigation. She competes with Natalie in the search for proof for a corruption scandal that could bring down at least one powerful person. A ruthless killer has other plans for the missing package of evidence. If either Natalie or Kirsten get in his way the consequences could be fatal.