Tag Archives: thriller

The Crossroads

Posted on February 26, 2026 by smellincoffee

Joe Pickett’s body lies in a bullet-ridden Game Warden pickup truck, with no indication of where he was going or who he expected to find. As he’s airlifted to a hospital and specialists go to work on him, his three … Continue reading →

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Back of Beyond

Posted on February 16, 2026 by smellincoffee

Who’s up for a horror movie, western style? The story begins when an older man is found dead in his half-burned cabin, with a hole in his head and an empty bottle of liquor beside him. When Cody Hoyt arrives … Continue reading →

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Treasure State

Posted on February 14, 2026 by smellincoffee

Who watches the watchers? Or in this case, who investigates private investigators? Cassie Dewell is intrigued by an odd phone call she gets: a wealthy Florida patron had hired a P.I. to investigate a man who swindled her out of … Continue reading →

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The Bitterroots

Posted on February 11, 2026 by smellincoffee

Cassie Dewell, formerly of law enforcement, is now a private investigator. Exhausted by dealing with corrupt or obfuscating police bureaucracy, she’s put out her own shingle. Now, in service to a defense attorney with a horrible case in front of … Continue reading →

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Badlands

Posted on February 5, 2026 by smellincoffee

Cassie Dewell is the new girl on the block, having just been hired as a senior investigator away from her former position in Montana.  But that’s OK: that last position ended with her winning a shootout against corrupt cops, one … Continue reading →

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The Reversal

Posted on January 30, 2026 by smellincoffee

Mickey Haller has been asked to do the unthinkable: to cross the aisle and serve as a prosecutor.   The reason is simple: an old case is being re-tried, and for propriety’s sake,   the City of Los Angeles wants … Continue reading →

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SHELLI: MurderMind

Posted on June 13, 2025 by smellincoffee

One of my favorite reads of 2024 was SHELLI, a SF mystery featuring a pair of detectives — one human, one synthetic — who investigated crimes relating to sythentic lifeforms, i.e. androids. Jake and Shelli are back in MurderMind, but … Continue reading →

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Assault by Fire, plus a DNF

Posted on May 17, 2025 by smellincoffee

As a kid, my friends and I often pretended to be soldiers and play-acted in the woods and fields as we might were we actually being attacked. We crawled on our bellies through the grass, took cover behind trees, looked … Continue reading →

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Red Metal

Posted on May 15, 2025 by smellincoffee

Something wicked this way comes. In Taiwan, the pro-China candidate has been assassinated, ostensibly by militants who want to protect the current anti-China candidate from not being reelected. China is threatening war and loading troopships as a reprisal. The Russians … Continue reading →

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Battle Mountain

Posted on May 6, 2025 by smellincoffee

WARNING: This review contains a prominent spoiler for Three Inch Teeth and Shadows Reel. Proceed with caution, pilgrim.  Joe Pickett and Nate Romanowski are both wounded men,  having come close to losing all that was dearest to them at the … Continue reading →

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