Book 1 - The Movie Murderer
The newspapers called him “The Movie Murderer”. Like “The Hillside Strangler” or “The Night Stalker”. You know what I mean. In L.A., every psycho gets a stage name.
In this case, it started with a very smart detective who was, among other things, a film buff, like a lot of Angelenos. He saw something that no one else saw but his theory was not taken seriously. Because of that, one of his colleagues mentioned it to a reporter from The Times, late one night after a few too many drinks in a downtown bar in a neighborhood teetering between gentrification and homelessness.
Until then, there were just a series of killings of girls no one would miss. But once the reporter wrapped his imagination around the concept, it became news.
Somewhere in the hills of Hollywood, the killer opened his morning copy of the L.A. Times and smiled. He had begun for his own amusement, sure no one would get the joke. He had despaired of finding a worthy adversary, or any adversary at all. But he had underestimated.
And so the game began.
The pawn in the game is sexy, sassy Katie O'Hara. Caught up in a passionate affair with LAPD Detective Rick Sandler, Katie unwittingly becomes the object of a killer's desire.
Book 2 - Acts of Contrition
LAPD Homicide Detective Rick Sandler and Katie O'Hara are back in this sequel to The Movie Murderer. Someone is leaving a trail of working girls strangled in motels along Sepulveda Boulevard, his signature a dark blue scarf. As Rick and John search for the killer in the Gentlemen's Clubs of the San Fernando Valley, they encounter a panoply of night people, a Russian who loves Bullwinkle the Moose, a duo of pole dancers whose act features their impersonation of The Jersey Shore's Snooki and Luscious Lily whose resemblance to Katie captivates John.
Meanwhile, with the help of her friends, the Bravo brothers, Katie is investigating a series of suspicious suicides, tied together by a Catholic parish led by a pair of very different priests, the charismatic Father Jonas, who Katie privately believes is too attractive to be celibate, and Father Mark, an old testament cleric who believes in an eye for an eye.
Book 3 - Darkness
On Manhattan's Upper East Side, a desperate woman flees certain death, on a journey back to the only man she believes can save her. Close behind is the man dispatched to make sure she doesn't reach him.
In L.A., Detectives Rick Sandler & John Cameron search for the serial killer stalking the massage parlors of East Hollywood, while restless and unhappy Katie O'Hara plans a houseboat getaway, seeking to recreate the passion of her early days with Rick.
In The Delta, Sheriff's Deputies Jessie Red Cloud and Bodie McDonald welcome Rick and Katie to The Delta, unaware that they are about to become players in a drama scripted by the man called The Tracker.
Book 4 - A Blood Red Sky
The sun is just rising, painting the sky blood red in the East. It is a promise of things to come, intense heat, brush fires and death. A young husband, setting out for his morning run with his baby daughter in her three wheeled stroller, doesn’t notice. As he reaches the corner, he turns. His wife is watching them from the open doorway. She is smiling, a sleepy smile. She is beautiful in her gauzy nightgown. The next time he sees her, she will be dead, the gauzy nightgown
soaked in her blood.
Her's is the first in a series of unspeakably brutal killings. The man dubbed The Movie Murderer has returned to Los Angeles - his true motivation - to possess Katie O'Hara.
And so, the game between Sam Spencer and Detective Rick Sandler begins again. But this time, it is Katie who will be Sam Spencer's nemesis.
Book 5 - The San Pedro Blues
Thirteen young women from Ukraine are smuggled into Port of Los Angeles inside a cargo container, victims of human trafficking, destined for a life of sexual slavery. Twelve of them will die at the hands of a machete wielding murderer. Only one will survive. Anichka Markovich who burns with a fierce hatred and desire for revenge.
Rick Sandler and John Cameron, detectives in LAPD's elite Robbery-Homicide division are assigned to the case. Working with U.S. Attorney Ray Manzarek and Vice Officers Angel Estrada and Roy Cooper, they search the streets of San Pedro and North Hollywood determined to find the people behind the trafficking operation, in hopes it will lead them to the killer.
On the personal side, Katie O'Hara is now a graduate of the police academy, working as a patrol officer under the tutelage of her training officer. When she discovers that Rick has used his influence to gain her a relatively safe assignment, she puts in for a transfer and finds herself in San Pedro, a move that will irrevocably change her life.
Katie soon falls in love with San Pedro, a very different beach town than Marina del Rey, a working class community that is home to Port of Los Angeles. After an act of heroism, she is accepted into The San Pedro Blues - a unique group of police officers - who take pride in their town and their way of policing it.
In this case, The Blues has a deeper meaning. In referencing music, B B King says The Blues is rage and anger.
Idiomatically, when someone experiences intense emotions, feelings of hopelessness and uncertainty, we say that person has 'The Blues'.
In this story, almost all of the major characters, have 'The Blues' hence the title.
Coming Soon - Book 6 - The Hollywood Blues
The San Pedro Blues are back - some of them, at least.
Katie goes undercover in a Hollywood club to find the man responsible for the deaths of five women.
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