Book #41 - Rushed: A Matter of Time

When Eric finds a mysterious letter written twenty years before he was born, but describing events from his own life, his simple existence as a normal high school English teacher once again takes a bizarre turn into the weird. Book 5 in the Rushed series. 

Book #40 - Shadow Tag

• A body is seated at the head of a conference table in the ACC boardroom in Minneapolis. A pearl-handled revolver is still clutched in the executive’s left hand—an entry wound in his left temple. The Board of Directors insists the company’s new president committed suicide. 

Paul Davis? Suicide? 

Detective Ray Schiller isn’t buying it. After twenty years of waiting to take over his late father-in-law’s company, why would Davis kill himself within twenty-four hours of succeeding? Ray knew the man from a recent case. He didn’t like Davis then or now, but he plans to see justice done all the same. 

The Board and Davis’s successor are quick to answer Ray and his partner Dick Waverly’s questions, but their actions suggest they’re hiding something. Unfortunately, they’re not the only ones keeping secrets—not by a long shot. 

Ray’s case and personal life both fall victim to complications, and what originally seemed to be a relatively straightforward case takes a turn that puts Ray and Waverly’s lives in serious jeopardy. 

From the author of the much acclaimed Dear Crossing, Marjorie Swift Doering’s new book would appeal to anyone interested in the best of crime thrillers and mystery

Book #39 - Dear Crossing

Dear Crossing: 

A Ray Schiller Novel (The Ray Schiller Series Book 1)

The wife of a prominent Minneapolis executive is found dead in the couple’s secluded summer home. Not just dead—murdered. The crime scene is uglier than most. 

Put in charge of the case, Ray Schiller of the Widmer, Minnesota P.D. follows the evidence directly to the Twin Cities and the new widower. Unraveling Paul Davis’s carefully guarded personal life threatens the executive’s bid for the imminent opening for the presidency of ACC, the prestigious corporation founded and run by his father-in-law. 

Ray’s tenacity turns up more suspects, but with lethal results. Their greed, ambition and loathing erupt in deadly in-fighting. Just as it seems the case is about to come to a sudden, unpredictable end, a shooting incident lands Ray in a situation, which could destroy his marriage as well as his law enforcement career. 

Ray battles back only to learn the devil is in the details, and the details aren’t what anyone expected. 

Book #38 - The Grave Man

Sam Prichard was a cop, and a good one, until the bullets took out the joint of his right hip. Now he's trying to learn to live without being a cop, and getting to know his neighbors, learning to walk again and even ride a motorcycle. Life is bearable, barely, but then he gets asked to find a missing child, and the lure of getting back into some kind of police work is too much for him to resist. When he teams up with computer whiz Indiana Perkins, he suddenly becomes one of the best investigators he's ever even known. 

Now, he's found the missing child, but it's thrown him right into the middle of something that may be a drug war--or could be a chance to stop the next 911! There's no way out for Sam, so he's in for the ride of his life, but when the girl he's becoming fond of is suddenly drawn into the line of fire with her own little daughter, Sam is ready to forget all the rules and do whatever is necessary to win the day. 

Book #37 - Innocent Little Crimes

Six naïve guests plus revenge served cold equals a recipe for disaster…

Lila Carmichael may be a rich and famous comedienne, but she’s hidden her greatest talent from her adoring fans—her ability to simmer, spice and serve a carefully constructed tour de force at a cozy reunion on her private island in the Pacific Northwest. 

Six unsuspecting guests have forgotten the innocent little crimes they committed against poor, gullible Lila fifteen years ago in college. All are teetering on the brink of ruin, hoping the famous Lila will come to their rescue. But their desperation plays them right into her hand.

One by one, Lila's guests are figuratively killed off in a vicious parlor game called Wolves. And revenge turns bittersweet when the weekend is over…and one guest is dead for real. 

Editorial Reviews:

"Revenge is indeed a dish best served cold in this fast-paced, thrilling story. Lila Carmichael is the Queen of Comedy, a wealthy TV actress with legions of adoring fans, who capitalizes on her less-than-gorgeous looks and snarky sense of humor…But Lila hasn’t forgotten how cruel they were to her when she was a heavy, unhappy preacher’s daughter too naive to know they were using her. And now she’s got them trapped right where she wants them, and she turns them on each other, bringing to light their greed and the dark secrets they’ve been keeping all these years. Before the weekend is over, one of them will end up dead…a page-turning thrill-ride that will have readers holding their breath the whole way through." — Publishers Weekly

"Take a remote island setting and an ill-fated reunion, throw in a few hot tempers, and a dash of revenge, and you end up with murder...and a puzzle that mystery lovers will relish unraveling. C. S. Lakin delivers readers a real page-turner with "Innocent Little Crimes," an engaging whodunit that pulls readers in from the first page. Who knew reunions could be so deadly?" —Elizabeth Craig, author of Quilt or Innocence

Book #36 - The Vanishing

The Vanishing 

(Detective Dean Cornell Series, Book 1)

Detective Dean Cornell is investigating the murder of a young woman when he and his partner stumble across a second brutal murder. Hunting for the killer through the streets of Sydney he discovers another young girl has vanished, leaving a distraught father holding onto whatever hope he can.

Dean and the detectives of Sydney homicide desperately try to unfold the mystery of the dead and the missing.
Can they find the killer before another life is lost?

Book #35 - Suicide Med

There’s a reason Southside Medical School has been nicknamed “Suicide Med.” For the last six years, every year one student has taken his own life. Except for last year. Last year was a murder-suicide. The press has pointed to the heavy workload as the culprit in the high suicide rate. Some students believe that the school is cursed. And others believe that the deaths may not be suicides at all—that it’s no coincidence that Dr. Conlon, Southside’s quirky but beloved anatomy professor, joined the staff on the very year that the suicides began. Either way, the same question echoes through the minds of every first year student at Suicide Med: Who will be next to die?