Previous Novels

When Jim West, a former Air Force Special Agent with the Office of Special Investigations, moves back to New Mexico, his goal is simple: start an easy going second career as a professional lecturer on investigative techniques to colleges and civic organizations.  He never envisioned that a demonstration of forensic hypnosis on stage with a state university student would stir up memories of an 18-year old murder mystery.  When the student is murdered three days later, West finds himself ensnared in a web of intrigue that pits him and the small town’s authorities against a ruthless, psychotic killer.
An aggressive reporter for the town newspaper seeks out West for help with the story, but after one of her co-workers is murdered, she quickly aligns her efforts with West and the Sheriff to solve the murder.  As West works closely with her, he begins to wonder if this could be the first real relationship for him since his devastating divorce a few years earlier.  The killer, though, has other plans leading to an inevitable, riveting confrontation. 

It was one of those phone calls former Air Force Special Agent Jim West never wanted to receive--an old friend calling to ask if he could drive down to Ruidoso, New Mexico to help locate the friend’s daughter who has disappeared while on a ski trip in the mountains. Once in Ruidoso, Jim discovers a sinister coincidence that changes everything.  It appears that someone is abducting and killing one young blonde every year around Christmas.  The race is on--can Jim locate his friend’s daughter in time?   But why is this happening and who’s doing it?  Jim can’t wait for the local authorities to raise the priority of their search, or for the pending blizzard to pass.  In his haste he puts himself in the killer’s sights.  Will he, too, suffer from a cold winter’s kill? Cold Winter's Kill was selected as a Finalist for the 2010 Eric Hoffer Award.

Former Air Force Special Agent Jim West’s goal of a peaceful, relaxed life, after a twenty year career in the military and an unexpected, devastating divorce, is once again interrupted by an old friend reaching out for help.  Not knowing how to say no, West once again finds himself leaving his New Mexico home and Chubs, his pet dog, in the hands of neighbors, while he heads off down the highway, this time to San Antonio, Texas.Once in San Antonio, West faces the challenge of solving the murder of an old friend’s wife.  The police, and even his friend’s defense lawyers, believe they have already arrested the murderer – his friend! Loose Ends Kill was selected as a Finalist for the 2011 Eric Hoffer Award and won the Silver Medal for fiction/mystery at the Military Writers Society of America 2011 conference.             

A three day golf trip that was supposed to be fun and relaxing turns into disaster when, on the drive up to Colorado Springs, Jim and his "friend" Edward "Perry" Mason discover a dead body in the men's room at a roadside rest stop. A heart attack and two dead bodies later, Jim discovers that murder can become personal! Forget the golf, Jim just wants to go home. Unfortunately, the police want him to hang around, while the killer would be happy if Jim left. In fact, the killer wants him gone - one way or the other. His only saving grace is a smart and savvy cop who believes in him. The fact that she has eyes that captivate Jim ain't bad either. The ultimate confrontation takes Jim out of his comfort zone and into a role he has only played out once before!  But is it a role that he can survive??  Another Colorado Kill won the Military Writer's Society silver medal for fiction/mystery at the 2012, and won the Silver Medal for general fiction in the 2012 Stars and Flags national book contest.

         In this book, Jim West travels to a small, remote hunting lodge in the Pecos        Wilderness area in New Mexico to rendezvous with an old friend and do some hiking. His friend stands him up, and Jim is about to return home when a murder occurs in the lodge. Law enforcement jumps in, and Jim’s early departure plans are scrubbed. When a second murder occurs less than twenty four hours later, things really start to get dicey. Both crimes were intricately planned to mislead the authorities, no one appears to have a motive for the killings, and everyone has an alibi. Up against a wall with time running out, the deputy-in-charge asks West to be their man on the inside, but West is adamant that this is not his case to solve. Since his retirement from the Air Force, however, Fate has had her own plans for West. Why should this be any different?  No One Else to Kill was a winner in the 2013 Eric Hoffer Awards.

        
Caffeine Can Kill  -  This Jim West mystery/thriller, the sixth in the series, finds Jim traveling to the Texas Hill Country to attend the grand opening of a friend’s winery and vineyard. Upon arriving in  Fredericksburg, Jim witnesses a brutal kidnapping at a local coffee shop. The next morning while driving down an unpaved country road to the grand opening, he comes across an active crime scene barely a quarter mile from his friend’s winery. A Fredericksburg policeman who talked to Jim the day before at the kidnapping scene recognizes Jim and asks him to identify the body of a dead young woman as the woman who was kidnapped.  Jim does, and as a result of this unwelcome relationship with the police is asked the next morning to identify the body of another murdered person as the man who had kidnapped the young woman.  A third murder throws Jim’s vacation into complete disarray and draws Jim and a female friend into the sights of one of the killers.   

          The Attack  -  A terrorist team has just set off four explosive devices in an international airport close to New York City.  The leader of the terrorists, Ahmad Khalin, survives the attack and plans to attack a second U.S. airport within the month.  As Khalin makes his escape from the New York area he is involved in a shooting in Connecticut. Clint Smith, a U.S. government agent assigned to an ultra-secret agency, is at a restaurant across the street when the shooting occurs. He responds to the scene to see if he can help, but Khalin is gone. On a hunch, Teresa Deer, Smith’s boss, sends Smith after Khalin. Smith’s pursuit takes him to Bar Harbor, Maine; Wiesbaden, Germany; the Costa Brava, Spain; Northern Scotland; Lake of the Woods, Ontario, Canada; and finally into Saskatchewan, Canada, where the final confrontation takes place.  Throughout the pursuit, a number of interesting characters add to the subplots and try to survive their involvement in the chase.

      The Group  -    Someone is killing off the world's rich and famous.   The murders are sophisticated, are happening on different continents, and the world's intelligence agencies are at a loss for an explanation.  On a hunch, Teresa Deer sends Clint Smith to Basel, Switzerland, where the Bilderberg Group, a loose knit group of the world's richest, is holding its annual meeting.  Smith begins to pick up a trail that leads him to the Mediterranean before contact is lost and Smith returns to the U.S.    The trail is picked up again in Las Vegas  and takes  Smith to Whidby Island, Washington.  The chase is marred by ambush and death, and near the end Smith realizes that he may no longer be the hunter, he has become the prey.