stiletto books: Crime & Mystery, authors a-H

DANGER, DECEPTION, DEATH: just another day 

going all the way back to edgar allen poe, lovers of literature have had a special, enduring fascination with the mystery. Thrills, suspense and intrigue abound in the works of this accomplished group of authors.

LAZARUS BARNHILL

Lazarus’ titles appear in several Indigo genres. Among his first novels to be published was the police procedural The Medicine People. Later, co-authored with Sally Jones, he release Come Home to Me Child. His work is characterized by the unexpected twist and turn, by crisp dialogue and unpredictable endings. 

come home to me child

Things don’t work out as intended for Elaine Randolph when her doctors send her, with her young family, to the sleepy Texas town of Veil to aid her recovery from a serious illness. Much as she tries to rest, Elaine just keeps stumbling onto old, unsolved kidnappings, disappearances and cover ups. Veil, she discovers, has concealed a lot. Quirky neighbors, doubting family and growing danger draw the readers to a thrilling, deadly conclusion that is anything but restful.  

the medicine people

The Medicine People, set in eastern Oklahoma, reopens a bloody, forgotten chapter in the history of a sleepy town when Ben Whitekiller, the only suspect in a triple homicide, returns in the company of an enigmatic young woman. In what seems an open-and-shut case, he is charged with the murders of two police officers and his own wife. On hand for his arrest and charged with his safekeeping is rookie patrolman Dan Hook, whose life becomes dangerously entwined with the notorious stranger, and the strange girl.

NICHOLE BENNETT

An avid mystery reader from a young age, Nichole Bennett has devoured Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allen Poe and Agatha Christie. She has also had an ongoing fascination with the supernatural—everything from angels and spirits to ghosts and hauntings. It’s only natural that she combine her two interests to create mysteries with paranormal twists. Nichole lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with her husband, two daughters, three dogs and three cats. When she’s not writing, she can be found reading, knitting socks, drinking coffee, eating chocolate or spending too much time online. Abyss readers will find great delight in her titles offered here.

ghost mountain

Moving is stressful enough, but when Cerri Baker moves with her family to the Black Hills of South Dakota, she begins seeing things-things like murder. Named after a pre-Christian Celtic Goddess, Cerri has spent her life trying to avoid the spirituality and "hocus-pocus" her mother embraces. Once in the Black Hills, Cerri doesn't seem to have much choice as her spirit guide insists she find justice for a murdered man. As she struggles with her own destiny, Cerri must also convince the FBI that she is getting her information from another realm and not from first-hand knowledge of the murder 

sleeping bear

Life has finally calmed down for wife and mother Cerri Baker. That was until the annual Black Hills Motorcycle Classic and a murder atop a sacred Lakota site. Cerri is asked to use her special talents to assist law enforcement. Between her spirit guide and a pack of disagreeable fae, however, there doesn’t seem much hope of solving the crime before the bikers leave town. 

NORM BROWN

A native Texan, Norm Brown lives and writes in the beautiful and rugged Texas Hill Country, home of both the Bluebonnet wildflower and the red scorpion. After a long career pursuing the mysteries of computers, Norm has turned to murder—mysteries that is. His first novel is full of humor, mystery, serendipity and hair-raising surprises.

carpet ride

This thrilling murder mystery begins with a dizzying, out-of-control skid down a mountain in an RV and ends as the intriguing threads of the plot come together in harried struggle for life in the dead of night 1500 miles from where the first murder occurred. Norm Brown joins the ranks of suspense masters in this riveting thrill ride.

J. BUSSKOHL

Jennifer Busskohl has co-authored three books with L.A. based crime writer, Eric Beeter. Although the pair have neither met nor spoken, they have compiled a body of work worthy of praise. Their first two books, One Too Many Blows To The Head and Borrowed Trouble remain well loved by fans. Their latest work, Over Their Heads is now available as well. Her first novel, The Deputy's Widow has being re-released in 2015 as a Stiletto book. She lives and writes in Nebraska.

the deputy's widow

Secrets . . .1948 is ending and things couldn’t be much worse for Detective Hamilton Baker. It stars with a phone call from Diana Kramer. With a voice like a teaspoon of honey drizzled over Lauren Bacall, she begs Baker to find letters she’s written to her lover, Sheriff’s Deputy Chester ‘Chet’ Ferrebee. Chet’s getting hitched to another woman and Diana wants the letters back where they belong . . . with her. Hours after the wedding, when Chet turns up dead in a roadside motel room, his new bride beaten and unable to remember the attack, Baker fears his mysterious client may be involved. As he searches for the letters, he unwillingly digs into the past of the sleepy town of Crane Haven, New York and uncovers the dangerous secrets of a group of men who shattered a young girl’s mind and her chance for happiness years ago.

k.j. dahlen

K.J. Dahlen lives in a small town (population 495) in Wisconsin. From her deck she can see the Mississippi River on one side and the bluffs, where eagles live and nest on the other side. She lives with her husband Dave and dog Sammy. She loves to watch people and that has helped her with my writing. Often she uses those she has observed as characters in her books. She loves to create characters, put them in a troubling situations and then sit back and let them do all the work.Of all the genres in which she has written, she finds mystery/thrillers the best. She likes to keep her readers guessing until the very end of the book.

Coming soon, A New Brotherhood

a murder in her past

When India reads a newspaper account of a recent murder, it triggers a memory from her childhood. She and a friend TK Jonas witnessed a brutal murder fifteen years ago. India repressed the memory but now the details came flooding back to her.  
Taking her research to a friend, Briar Rivers, Briar urges her to go to his brothers, Cade and Elliot. When they hear her story they find more cases with the same MO. As one clue leads to another they uncover a serial killer. Working with local police they do everything they can to get this monster off the streets. 

cards of justice

Karen Rivers tried to ignore the instant message, but the sender was adamant. He insisting on telling her he had just murdered someone. That someone, Karen discovered, was Congressman Howard Betts, his body left on the steps of the House of Congress. Now the killer wants Karen to write his story. Her refusal results in the death of Senator Steve Hargrove. How is Karen going to respond to a ruthless killer who has a story to tell and will do anything to get it told?  

in search of justice

Detective Gage Santana is trying to be fair, to cover all bases, to keep an open mind. Unfortunately the clues in crime he is investigating—involving a brutal murder, a notorious affair and shady business dealings—keep pointing him in increasingly dangerous directions he doesn’t want to go. Solving the crime, keeping everyone around him safe and avoiding his own demise will require all his considerable abilities. 

L.V. GAUDET

L.V. Gaudet is a Canadian fiction writer whose writing has a vein of darkness to it. L.V. is a  member of the Manitoba Writers’ Guild and lives in Manitoba with her husband, kids and shelter dog. Stiletto readers will find themselves engrossed in her irresistible stories, that ultimately prove to be unpredictable, unique and unforgettable.

Coming soon, The MacAllister Farm

where the bodies are

A young woman is found discarded with the trash, brutally beaten and left for dead. More bodies begin to appear, left where they are sure to be found and cause a media frenzy. The killer’s reality blurs between past and present with a compulsion driven by a dark secret locked in a fractured mind. Overcome by a blind rage that leaves him wallowing in remorse with the bodies of victim after victim. He is desperate to stop killing. The search for the killer will lead to his dark secret buried in the past, something much larger than a man-on-woman killing spree. 

The McAllister farm

William McAllister is a private and reclusive man who does not like to have attention drawn on his family. His family history is as dark as the secret hiding in the woods. Just as he begins to bring his troubled son into the family business, a serial killer starts preying on local young women. The McAllisters quickly find themselves drawn into the spotlight when the town decides William McAllister is the killer. The attention is a threat to both William McAllister's profession and his family. He has no choice but to find the killer himself. He might not like what he learns. Take a step back into time to learn to secret behind the bodies in Where the Bodies Are.

Available now at $13.95 plus tax.

STEVE HAGOOD

Steve Hagood lives in Saline, MI with his wife Jenni. Together they have 5 children, 1 grandchild, 2 cats, and a dog. He is currently hard at work on his next Chase story. To learn more check out his website at www.stevehagood.com. Meanwhile, enjoy the memories, surprises and dangers of this breakthrough novel.

chasing the woodstock baby

Legend has it that among the half million people in attendance at the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, a baby was born. However, nobody has ever come forward to admit to having had, or being, the baby. Until now. Tyson Chase is a retired Detroit cop turned bar owner. When Caroline Wolf asks him to find her baby, the one she had at Woodstock, the chase is on.

MICKEY HOFFMAN

Mickey Hoffman was born in Chicago, and attended public schools where she acquired the strong suspicion that some of her teachers might be human. She wasn't able to prove this fanciful thinking until much later, when she became a high school teacher herself. Before landing in the halls of academia, she worked in a variety of jobs, including computer typesetting and wholesale frozen fish sales.  The author is also a printmaker and painter and resides on the West Coast with her long suffering mate, eight marine aquariums and a very large cat. Education can be mysterious and deadly, or so she asserts in her thrillers:

deadly traffic

Girls are disappearing from Standard High while the local sex trade flourishes. Their absences are barely noticed in the worst school in Arbor City, CA, where turnover and truancy are facts of life. Kendra Desola, the only faculty member likely to care, is on a leave of absence.  After a student’s lifeless body turns up in a seedy part of town, an immigrant community leader contacts Kendra. Searching for the missing girls, Kendra enters a dark world where passports and flesh are currency, and knowledge can be fatal.

school of lies

School is murder if you are not a particularly good student. It's also murder if you are a manipulative, coercive vice-principal whom everyone would like to see dead. The problem is the person whom the police suspect of the crime is our innocent heroine. 

CAROLE HOWARD

After a career in which her writing largely consisted of training manuals and memos, in which clarity was the holy grail, Carole is thrilled to be writing fiction and memoir. She lives in the beautiful and rural Hudson Valley of New York. Carole gets around, having been to about 50 countries (so far). She has also been in several amateur orchestras, and all of these experiences inform this gripping mystery.

deadly adagio

Was the murder of the Peace Corps Director’s wife in Senegal just random anti-American violence, as the official investigative team seems to think? Emily suspects it may have been something else. She ignores everyone’s warnings that she’s putting her life in danger to find out. But it turns out they’re right.  

CHRISTINE HUSOM

A former peace office and a trusted public official, Christine Husom is also a consummate writer of murder mysteries. She lives in Minnesota, the setting of her thrillers, along with her family. She enjoys solving mysteries in real life as well. Often she ponders whether it is the crisp, cold winters that clear the cobwebs from her mind so she can create tales. 

Coming soon, Secret in Whitetail Lake

an altar by the river

A man phones the Winnebago County Sheriff's Department, frantically reporting his brother is armed with a large dagger and on his way to the county to sacrifice himself. Sergeant Corinne Aleckson takes the call, learning the alarming reasons behind the young man's death wish. When the department investigates, they plunge into the alleged criminal activities of a hidden cult, and disturbing cover-up of an old closed-case shooting death. 

a death in lionel's woods

When a woman’s emaciated body in a hunter’s woods, Sergeant Corinne “Corky” Aleckson is coaxed back into the field to assist Detective Smoke Dawes on the case. It seems the only hope for identifying the woman lies in a photo which was buried with bags of money under her body. 

murder in winnebago county

Murder in Winnebago County features a the most unlikely serial killer in the most unlikely little Minnesota town. The clever murderer leaves a dramatically growing chain of apparent suicides who have everything, and nothing, in common. As her intuition helps her draw the case together, Sgt. Corky Aleckson doesn't realize that she has made herself the killer's next target. 

buried in wolf lake

When a family’s Golden Retriever brings home a woman’s dismembered leg, the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department launches an investigation unlike any other. Who is the young woman and where is the rest of her body? Sergeant Corrine Aleckson and Detective Elton Dawes soon discover they are up against an unidentified psychopath targeting women with specific physical features. 

the noding field mystery

When a man’s naked body is found staked out in a farmer’s soybean field, Sergeant Corinne Aleckson and Detective Elton Dawes are called to the scene. The cause of death is not apparent, and the significance of why he was placed there is a mystery. As Aleckson, Dawes, and the rest of their Winnebago Sheriff’s Department team gather evidence they hit one dead end after another.

Secret in whitetail lake

Christine Husom has once again captured the essence of a rural Minnesota mystery as she draws readers into the Secret in Whitetail Lake. When the Winnebago County Sheriff's Department stumbles upon a car at the bottom of Whitetail Lake, what appears to be a probable accident from three decades earlier, turns into something far more sinister that makes this story a page turner.