Showing results by author "Renee Pawlish" in All Categories

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.

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.

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.

Former Army Civil Affairs specialist Jo Gunning isn’t looking for trouble in Savannah, Georgia. But when she crosses paths with a troubled veteran, she stumbles into a world of hidden agendas and unanswered questions surrounding those who’ve already sacrificed too much. Walking away isn’t in Jo’s nature—not after years of service where leaving someone behind was never an option. The deeper she digs, the more tangled the trail becomes.

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.

When her sister’s friend, who works at a top-secret biolab, mysteriously disappears, Jo’s sister wants help to find her, and Jo can't say no. As she begins her search, Jo stirs up more than she bargained for, and her questions reveal an unknown and deadly enemy who can’t afford for her to discover the truth. Soon danger threatens her family, and Jo must use all her training to protect them and find answers.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A car found at a park, a woman’s body inside. It appeared Dr. Amy Babbitt had a good life. Did she commit suicide, or did someone want her dead? As Denver Homicide Detective Sarah Spillman delves into Amy’s life, the details don’t add up, but the suspect list does. Everyone is keeping secrets, and someone is willing to kill to keep theirs hidden. And as Sarah investigates, she must confront her own dark past. Revenge is a dish best served dead.

When a Denver judge is brutally slain, Detective Sarah Spillman inherits her biggest case yet. Discovered with the body is a note: Your judgment is coming. Who would want to murder a judge whose reputation for integrity and fairness is well-known? No sooner do Sarah and her team delve into the case than a killer strikes again, the victim another judge. An identical note is found at the crime scene; however, no link appears to exist between the two judges. Sarah’s instincts tell her there is more to the murders than meets the eye.

Seeking nothing more than peace and quiet, loner Jo Gunning wanders into Prescott, Arizona. But solitude proves illusive. As Jo hikes a remote trail, someone shoots at her. As Jo searches for the culprit, she stumbles upon a kidnapped teenager—a victim of a human trafficking ring—and she finds herself in a fight she never wanted.

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.

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.

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.

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.