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.

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 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.

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.

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.

Jo Gunning returns to Greensville, Alabama—this time to testify in a trial that could finally bring down the town’s most dangerous power player, Rance Pollack. She expects tension. She expects threats. But she doesn’t expect Keyshawn Washington, her ally in disrupting a criminal empire, to vanish without a trace. An empty house, a cryptic note, and shadows lurking where they don’t belong—nothing adds up, and Jo can’t walk away. As she searches for him, a chilling possibility takes shape: Rance Pollack and the cartel he worked with haven’t forgotten what Jo and Keyshawn did to their operation.

Compelled by a dark secret from his past, private investigator Reed Ferguson takes on his most unique case yet: bodyguard for young, spoiled trust-fund baby Stephanie McMahon. As Reed tries to protect her from her father's enemies, he gets more than he bargained for. Things are not what they seem, no one can be trusted, and the past has a way of coming back to haunt us. And when suspicious deaths begin piling up, Reed knows he might be next.

Reed Ferguson's first case is a daring adventure, complete with a dose of film noir, and a lot of humor. With a great supporting cast of the Goofball Brothers, Reed's not too bright neighbors, and Cal, Reed's computer geek friend, This Doesn't Happen in the Movies is detective noir at its best. Follow Reed as he solves crime akin to his cinematic hero, Humphrey Bogart.

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.

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.

In a nightmarish turn of events, Reed Ferguson finds himself the prime suspect in the murder of Denver private investigator Noel Farrell. Wrongly accused but unable to provide a convincing alibi, Reed has to work overtime to clear his own name. As Reed untangles a complex trail of clues, he learns that Farrell had discovered something much more disturbing than the usual, run-of-the-mill PI case and had attempted to contact Reed for help.

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.

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.

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 returns in an outrageously fun tale! Perry Rawlings, an Elvis impersonator, has his prize Mickey Mantle baseball card stolen. Who is the culprit? This tale will keep you guessing!

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.

Reed's back with a dose of humor and film noir that will keep you turning pages. When an attractive female client begs Reed Ferguson to find her prize-winning Maltese show dog stolen from her back yard, Reed suspects he may be channeling Ace Ventura: Pet Detective rather than his hero, Humphrey Bogart. It sounds like a simple case, but things take a dangerous turn and Reed discovers that man's-best-friend can attract some decidedly unfriendly characters!

Lights! Camera! Reed! That's right - Reed Ferguson, the intrepid hero of This Doesn't Happen in the Movies, is back. A mysterious death. A brother searching for the truth. A devious ex-wife. Real estate shenanigans. More danger for Reed than a film noir plot.

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.

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.