Detective Annie Avants Series

**Book 3, Southern Secrets, will be available April 2014** **Book 2, Damage Control, is available now** A Serial Killer. Black widow spiders. A race to catch the perp before he strikes again. Meet Robbery/Homicide Detective Annie Avants and her partner, Detective Tom Weston of the Kern County Sheriff's Office in Bakersfield, California. In this dusty farm community, someone is abducting and killing young Hispanic females. His weapon of choice - black widow spiders. Can these two dedicated Detectives catch this serial killer with the help of their peers and friends, Deputy District Attorney Jesse Greyeyes and Technical Investigations Chief Laine DelMonte? Cause of Death is a spine-chilling thriller that keeps you guessing right up to the last minute - and makes you wonder about the "normal" people in YOUR daily life. Damage Control (Det. Annie Avants Series #2) available now!

WITCHES IN BAKERSFIELD??? Two women, one man, are dead. All three were solitary green witches who met from time-to-time to share rituals and festivals. Not a coven, just a group of like-minded individuals who preferred to practice their witchcraft alone. The first two deaths appeared to be accidental, but the third death was an obvious murder. Each death occurred in a different area of Kern County - in different jurisdictions - which made it unlikely any connection would be made between the deaths. The third body was found in an outlying area of Kern County, which put it in the jurisdiction of the Kern County Sheriff's Office. The detective team assigned to investigate this homicide consists of Lead Detective Annie Avants and her partner, Detective Tom Weston. As the initial investigation begins, they find nothing to make them suspect that this murder is connected to any other death in Kern County. Clem Moonstone is a solitary green witch who owns a metaphysical shop in Bakersfield. She and Annie Avants have been friends for many years. When Annie and Tom attend the funeral of the victim whose death they are investigating, Annie is surprised to see Clem there. Clem explains to Annie that the young woman whose funeral they are attending is the third person in her circle of friends to die during the past few months. Annie's gut instinct tells her to look into the previous two deaths. Clem gives her the names of the other two people and the locations where their bodies were found. After Annie obtains the files and begins to research their deaths, she comes to the chilling conclusion that the first two deaths may not have been so "accidental" and that all three victims may have died at the hands of a serial killer. It appears someone is killing the witches of Bakersfield

Annie Avants turns her back on her Southern roots and becomes a homicide detective in Kern County, California. Her partner, Tom Weston, suffers his own life tragedy when his wife is killed on live camera TV during a bank hostage situation gone bad. Jesse Greyeyes wants to be DA and he wants Annie, but his Native American roots make him both arrogant, defensive, and unsure of himself. Laine DelMonte, Chief of Technical Investigations has a secret she's kept hidden and is always looking over her shoulder. Can this diverse group solve random serial killings in Kern County, California? DECEPTION - POWER PLAYS - MURDER Detectives Annie Avants and Tom Weston tackle one of the most perplexing murder mysteries since they began working together. The crime victim is a local, well-respected attorney who has gone missing. There's not much criminal evidence to go on. His car was found an hours drive out of Bakersfield with blood on the passenger seat. No body has been found. His staff is in a quandary. He had a new trial scheduled to begin the next morning. Everything was set to go. And then, he just disappeared. A mysterious package left in the restroom of the Kern County Courthouse leads our detectives to believe that the attorney is dead. And now. . . another person has gone missing! Will our detectives find the answers before a media frenzy erupts in the Kern County/Bakersfield area? Will the FBI be called in to help? Will they come to understand the kinds of criminal minds that lead someone to be a serial killer and narrow the list of suspects? This fast-paced crime fiction detective thriller will keep you reading well into the night to find out 'who dun it?"

SECRET SOCIETY HIDDEN TREASURE REBEL GOLD MURDER Annie's cousin lives in Mena, Arkansas and has come into possession of three journals written by one of his ancestors who was deeply involved with the Knights of the Golden Circle. The journals spell out explicitly the locations of some of the biggest caches of 'rebel gold' hidden by the KGC to fund a second Civil War. Zachary Isom Avants is a history buff and professor at a local college who is aware that throughout Arkansas there exist the ruins of many abandoned cabins and homesteads left behind by his ancestors. He is also an avid genealogist. For years, he has been tracking down these abandoned homesteads, looking for artifacts and information on the lives of his long-dead relatives. Deep in the Ouachita forests, he comes across a derelict shack that hasn't been touched for almost 100 years. It's covered with vines and falling down and he almost misses seeing it. He sets up camp next to the shack and begins clearing away the vines. It's a small cabin, but he finds signs that it had been occupied by a couple and 2-3 kids. It's not the typical sentinel outpost shack of the Knights of the Golden Circle, which is probably why no one bothered with it. When he can safely climb down into the basement, he finds an indentation in the far wall of the root cellar. He carefully digs and finds hidden inside a small opening a cast iron skillet with a lid that has been sealed with pitch. Excited, he takes the skillet to his makeshift table outside and unseals the lid. Inside, wrapped in many layers of oil cloth, he finds three journals. One is a copy of a day book kept by someone high up in the KGC during the Civil War. The only signature is 'Avants'. The other two were penned by Zack's great grandfather, Orris Avants. Unbeknownst to Zack, the leadership of the modern KGC is aware that these books still exist, but have never been able to find them. When he begins making discrete inquiries in town, the KGC suspects that he has found the long-lost journals. They are determined to recover them. Why? They don't know what caches the journals expose, and they don't want treasure seekers finding the hidden treasures. Throughout the years, the American government has also been interested in the KGC and the millions of dollars they stole and hid. FBI Special Agent Jason Smith overhears someone talking about the journals and alerts his superiors. They, too, are determined to possess the journals and recover as much of the stolen loot as possible. Zack finally realizes the significance of his find and mails the journals to his cousin, Annie, in California. He knows he is being followed and that he, and his family, are in danger.

What readers are saying: "A very awesome book cover, great font & writing style. A very well written cop crime book. It was very easy for me to read/follow from start/finish & never a dull moment. There were no grammar/typo errors, nor any repetitive or out of line sequence sentences. Lots of exciting scenarios, with several twists/turns & a large set of unique characters to keep track of. This could also make another great cop crime movie, or better yet a mini TV series or. To be continued? A very easy rating of 5 stars." Tony Parsons MSW (Washburn) ". . . a real good book, well written and the story flows and keeps you interested in what is going to happen next. Congratulations on a well-written book." Clyde Gibson, Mettler, California SYNOPSIS: Drug trafficking in Kern County has increased drastically due to Interstate I5, which runs adjacent to Bakersfield, and goes from the Mexican border to Canada. Kern County's many law enforcement agencies work in their own jurisdictions to solve the problem. Sometimes they work together, but most of the time they don't. The Kern County Narcotics Division (Part of the Gang Suppression Unit) had been investigating a farmhouse along the Interstate 5 corridor for several months. The eight residents of the home were alleged members of a Mexican Cartel that delivered their wares up and down the I5 corridor. This house was just one of many links on I5. At 3:00 a.m. on April 13, 2014, Detectives Annie Avants and Tom Weston of the Kern County Robbery/Homicide Unit were called to the scene of a combined Narcotics Division/SWAT Team raid gone bad at the farmhouse. The house was abandoned when they arrived, but a surprise package had been left for the teams. The body of a middle-aged Mexican male had been executed "gang" style and left at the scene. When Tom and Annie talked to the Narcotics Division leader later that morning, they were informed that the man had been covertly working with them to close this house and get more information on the connections to the Cartel. The conclusion: someone snitched and tipped off the residents so they could leave, and told them the name of the man who was working with the Narcotics Division. Later, during their investigation, as Tom reviewed some of the videos made by the Narcotics Division, a figure caught his eye. He asked the video people to enhance the image and, when he was sure what he was seeing, he was shocked. It appeared that one of the remaining men who lived at the house was a life-long friend of Tom's whom he thought worked for the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency. Then, Annie blasts the cartels on international television - and disappears! Where is she? It seems that everybody wants to be a fly on everyone else's wall!