L. J. Sellers Livres

As a nurse and youth counselor at Eugene, Oregon's Planned Parenthood clinic, Kera Kollmorgan has endured her share of harassment from fanatical abortion foes. But it only strengthens her resolve. Then a bomb blast rips through the clinic and, soon after, a teenage girl Kera recently treated is found naked and murdered in a dumpster. Kera fears the bitter abortion war in her small community has reached a terrifying new level. The sexualized killing of Jessie Davenport hits close to home for Detective Wade Jackson. Raising his teenage daughter alone, he understands better than anyone the predatory world that threatens young women. But he never expects his grim investigation will lead to a teenage Bible-study club, the dark underside of high school life, and even the halls of political power. Now he must confront two shockingly different suspects with nothing in common ? except a taste for sex and violence. As Jackson's manhunt intensifies, Kera becomes a marked woman, stalked by a crazed crusader. And when the fates of the detective and nurse intersect, a world of righteous rage, sexual secrecy, and chilling obsession threatens to blow them apart.

The investigation revolves around a woman's murder linked to her food product, with Detective Jackson facing personal turmoil as his brother is hospitalized. As the case unfolds, a Peeping Tom neighbor emerges as a suspect, but the discovery of a second strangled victim raises fears of a serial killer. The plot thickens when connections to Jackson's brother, who dated both women, come to light. With the sudden disappearance of another young woman, the task force races against time to uncover hidden motives and secrets before it's too late.

When a young mother is found murdered in a derelict Eugene neighborhood--and her terrified young son is discovered hiding beneath the floorboards--Detective Jackson reluctantly takes the case. His own life is already in chaos, with his runaway teenage daughter, Katie, still gone and his girlfriend, Kera, facing her own family crisis. Matters get more complicated when the orphaned boy bonds with Jackson, triggering unexpected emotions and compromising his ability to investigate. Meanwhile, Detective Evans, one of Jackson's most valuable colleagues, is pulled off the case to look into the death of a University of Oregon football star--leaving the homicide task force shorthanded. As Jackson works to solve the murder and find a home for little Benjie, he soon faces devastating choices that threaten everything he holds dear.

Ten years ago, Hector Vargas confessed to the cold-blooded murder of Detective Wade Jackson's parents. Now, facing his own death, Vargas has reached out from prison to declare his innocence. Armed with the shocking new truth that dirty cops railroaded Vargas, Jackson must revisit the painful past to get justice for his parents ? and jail the ruthless killer. Meanwhile, Gina Stahl awakens from a two-year coma with a chilling message on her lips: He tried to kill me. Now Detective Lara Evans must probe the young woman's desperate claim that her near death was not failed suicide, but attempted murder. As their investigations intersect, Jackson tangles with his estranged brother, hunts a loan shark turned philanthropist, and confronts his parents? long-buried secrets, while Evans contends with a relentless reporter, shadows a fellow cop with a dangerous reputation, and struggles with her feelings for Jackson. But the more dark revelations they make, the deadlier the resistance they face from a killer terrified of losing everything?and willing to stop at nothing.

The scene is a bloodbath: Jared and Carla Walker lie brutally bludgeoned and stabbed to death, along with their young son, while their teenage daughter barely clings to life. Detective Wade Jackson's boss believes a gang of carjackers has graduated to home invasion...and homicide. But there are other suspects in the mix: a bitter brother-in-law convinced the Walkers ripped him off big-time, a young heroin addict in forbidden love with the Walker's daughter, and the shady former employer who was being blackmailed by Jared Walker. Still, with only inconclusive forensic evidence and a sole survivor who can't remember anything, Jackson and his team are getting nowhere fast. And so is Jackson's personal life--as he duels over money with his alcoholic ex, struggles to raise his teenage daughter, and fights to keep his high-pressure job from destroying his new romance. Add the looming specter of departmental downsizing, and things couldn't possibly get worse. At least until the only living witness to the massacre vanishes--along with the shocking truth buried in her mind--and the killer follows in hot pursuit.

Detective Wade Jackson, of Eugene Oregon's Violent Crimes Division, has more than a professional interest in the disappearance of Danette Blake. In addition to being the mother of an infant, the missing young woman is also the widowed daughter-in-law of Kera Kollmorgan--the woman Jackson loves. But the politics surrounding the mysterious death of Courtney Durham, a notorious party girl with rich, powerful parents, trumps Jackson's personal concern. While all signs indicate Danette has fled the pressures of single motherhood, it appears Courtney's reputation for walking on the wild side led to her homicide. But without evidence of foul play, Jackson may be probing "crimes" that never happened. As headquarters turns up the heat, he follows a trail of twists and turns to a secretive psychiatrist, a sleazy strip-club owner, a benevolent organization for needy mothers, and a bizarre service for edgy thrill-seekers. The deeper he descends into Courtney's wanton world, the more suspects, motives, and disturbing facts he uncovers. And though it's hardly the first time a case has led Jackson into dark territory, he winds up face-to-face with the last person he expects.

"Outside a local bar, a man is drugged and slashed to death with a scalpel. Inside a local bank, a woman suffers a fatal heart attack after learning her life savings have been plundered. The crimes are as different as the night and day they occur. The vicious murder is a case for Eugene's Violent Crimes Division, but the more Detective Wade Jackson and his homicide team probe into the death of Rafel Mazari -- an Iraq War veteran with disturbing secrets -- the more it appears that one crime's victim may be the other's perpetrator. While there's damning evidence that Mazari died at the hands of his cheating wife, a phantom internet veterans' charity -- the same one that wiped out the heart attack victim's bank account -- keeps cropping up at every turn of Jackson's investigation. And when Mazari's best friend turns up murdered in identical fashion, Jackson suspects a motive that's deeper, darker, and more devastating than broken vows and love turned lethal"--Amazon.com, viewed September 18, 2013.

Detective Wade Jackson investigates a series of rapes and rape-murders in Eugene, Oregon.

As a thirty-two-year-old, single restaurant manager, Jenna McClure is all too aware of her ticking biological clock. Elizabeth Demauer, a fertility clinic doctor, helps her patients bear children--a joy she can never share. But these two women have more in common than just a yearning for motherhood. When they cross paths, Elizabeth sees not only the sister she never knew existed but the once-in-a-lifetime chance to realize her deepest desire...by any means necessary. Together with her lover--a rogue physician and charismatic cult leader--Elizabeth masterminds the ultimate theft. But their carefully laid plans could be derailed by Eric Troutman, the heroic reporter who's fallen in love with Jenna and will stop at nothing to solve her sudden disappearance. And the more his relentless investigation tightens the noose around Elizabeth and David, the more their "victimless crime" threatens to become anything but.