Intrigue & Thriller Books

Detective Jordan Bishop is tasked with protecting Neela Sahjani, abortion doctor, stem-cell researcher, and member of the new conservative state government—a walking contradiction and a complication Jordan can't afford. When Neela seeks an emotional connection, Jordan tries to distract her from the darkness of her past with the only thing she has to offer—sex.

Neela is struggling to keep her job in an administration that no longer supports her vision while also caring for her aging mother and researching a cure for her mother's disease. The last thing she needs is a detached, risk-taking police officer looking over her shoulder.

Publishers Weekly says: "[A] touching contemporary tale of two wounded souls hoping to find lasting love and redemption together.…Powell ably plots a plausible and suspenseful story, leading readers to fall in love with the characters she’s created."

Lieutenant Abigail Hargrove comes from a long line of cops...dirty cops. She's an exemplary, detached officer when on duty with the Tacoma Police Department, but after hours, she strives in secret to atone for her relatives' corruption. Abby agrees to ride with her mounted unit during the Washington State Fair, expecting a relaxing few weeks of horses and PR work, but a bittersweet reunion with childhood friend Kira sets into motion a chain of events that makes Abby's private and public lives collide.

Wetland biologist Kira Lovell devotes her life to her daughter and to a vocal defense of the environment. A chance meeting with her first love stirs long forgotten feelings, but her life is thrown into chaos before they can rekindle their romance.A kidnapping and a murder take place behind the innocence of the midway. Abby has to solve both crimes to protect Kira, even if it means revealing more of her family's shameful past.

Honor and duty are not always black and white—and when self-styled patriots take up arms against the government, the price of honor may be a life.

Blair Powell and Jane Graves have much in common and even more that sets them apart in an invisible battle raging on home soil. Blair's father is the president of the United States, while Jane's is a domestic terrorist bent on bringing about a new world order at the expense of the present one. When Blair takes to the campaign trail to support her father's re-election, Cameron Roberts and the newest members of Blair's security detail must protect the president and his daughter from foes bent on revenge. Jane and her secret ally within the president's inner circle vow to destroy them all, at any cost.

FIRST PLACE WINNER of the 2016 Book Buyers Best Contest, sponsored by the Orange County Chapter of the Romance Writers of America (Suspense & Mystery with Romantic Elements)

Award-winning teacher Clary Stone is home for the summer, helping her family and recovering from a personal tragedy. She loves her Wisconsin city on Lake Michigan, hoping to find what's left of herself in the familiar warmth and safety. At first, the city is the same, but she soon finds things have changed. Clary becomes involved in parts of the town that she's never seen or known before. The summer's odd journey leads her to the city's homeless shelter for small children.

Leefe Ellis manages the shelter and is totally unlike anyone Clary's ever met. Homeless since the age of three, Leefe reveals another side of life with remarkable courage, honesty, and humanity. Working side by side with the little children, both realize they are fellow travelers, but neither has met another person as completely different as they are from each other. It's often confusing, sometimes frightening, but always fascinating.

Peyton Davis is part rancher, part federal prosecutor, and all Texan. Strong and steady, she's known for keeping her cool in every situation, but when she meets the beautiful and accomplished heiress to the Gantry oil fortune, she falls fast and hard. When she learns her new assignment is to investigate the Gantry family's business, her entire belief system will be tested.

Lily Gantry leads a privileged and protected life and she has no idea it's all about to blow up in her face. What she does know is that the striking rancher she met at the Cattle Baron's Ball has the potential to steal her heart. Will she feel the same way when she finds out Peyton Davis's investigation threatens not only her family's fortune, but the very foundation of her identity?

Twenty-eight days, thirteen European countries, a tour manager fighting attraction, and an accused murderer. What could possibly go wrong? European tour manger Stella Cruz has adeptly led eager tourists around Europe for far too long. Nearly thirty, she is ready to abandon a constantly changing clientele and the never-ending stream of willing bed partners. Enter Phoebe Lancaster, tall, blond, and dangerous. Arrested for the murder of her socialite girlfriend, but later released, Phoebe's presence on the tour is an unnerving mystery and a reckless temptation for Stella.

Max Winters is comfortable in her behind-the-scenes wunderkind role on Holt Lasher's crime fighting team. Eventually, she'd like more responsibility in the field, but that only happens after Holt says you're ready. When Holt's team is asked to help bust an organized car theft ring and Whitney "Dubs" Williams is released from prison with the sole purpose of helping Holt in that pursuit, Holt turns to Max to be Dubs' minder. As in, handcuffed together, 24/7 minder of an unreformed, young, hot, cocky thief. The lines blur between legal and illegal, real and façade, the longer the two women spend together. But Max isn't willing to risk her heart for the entertainment of a criminal. In order to prove herself, Dubs has to make sure her feelings can't be misinterpreted. But will she survive her grand gesture?

Blood is thicker than pride. The final book in the Elite Operative Series brings together foes, family, and friends to start a new order.

Special Agent Switch needs to get close to Greek tycoon Konstantinos Lykourgos, the prime suspect in the theft of a priceless ancient icon from a monastery on Mount Athos. His accomplice is the EOO's recurring nemesis: Theodora Rothschild, aka TQ, the Broker.

Ariadne Lykourgos, heir to her father's shipping empire, expects to have a much-needed holiday on the family yacht with her friends. But the arrival of a new crew member challenges her values and tests her loyalties.

Will Agent Switch be strong enough to keep secrets from Ariadne, and will Ariadne be able to cope with the truth?

Deep in her drunken, womanizing past, Peg Ryan made a terrible mistake. Eighteen years later, she's sober, a respected lawyer, and in love for the first time. When she takes a call from a former colleague, the distance collapses between her ugly past and her hopeful present. Suddenly, everything she values is under attack.

When Allison Mitchell meets Peg, she knows what she wants right away. She breaks up with the woman she's dating to be with her only to discover Camille won't go away easily; she's on a mission to destroy Peg and get Allison back.

Allison and Peg's new love is threatened from all directions. How will they fight back?

Cassandra "Cassie" Finnsbury has spent almost twenty-five years running for her life, hiding from everyone who knew her, and hoping it was enough to keep her daughter safe. When she learns that she no longer has to run, she is determined to find Daniela again and hires private investigator Bailey Davenport, a retired FBI agent, who is more than up to the task. Bailey finds nothing more irresistible than a mystery and a challenge, and in Cassie, she finds both.

Can Bailey find the key to unlock more than just Cassie's secrets?

Until you've been pushed past your limits, you don't know what you're capable of.

When a terrorist group brings down three passenger jets, CIA Threat Analyst Jessie Coltrane is plunged into a netherworld where it's difficult to tell friend from foe. Nothing is what it seems. Case in point? Darien Troy, the beautiful but deadly operative brought in to help neutralize the threat. Jessie is drawn to Darien. She's just not sure she can trust her.

Darien's never backed down from a challenge, but this one's suddenly very personal. As the body count increases and old secrets come to light, she'll have to decide how far she's willing to go. Because this time, more than survival is on the line.

In a stunning twist of events, Addison Riley is launched from the halls of academia to the spotlight of Supreme Court nomination. She's not entirely sure she wants the job, but the opportunity to make history ultimately trumps the trouble of having every aspect of her life examined by friends and enemies alike. Committed to the process, she's determined not to let her attraction to a beautiful woman or the threats on her life deter her from becoming the first female Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Campaign advisor Julia Scott has spent her entire life working to make other people successful, and her pinnacle achievement was the recent presidential election. Now she's in charge of making sure the president's first Supreme Court appointment sails through the Senate. She's faced tough challenges before, but nothing like those posed by the infuriatingly focused Addison Riley, a woman who challenges her mind and awakens her heart.

Times are tough for sixteen-year-old Stick McLaughlin, running from a trumped up arson charge and hiding among hobos in 1918 Boston. Denied the companionship and support of lifelong soul mate Ellie, Stick edges her way through prison as "Mac," only to be thrust alone and wide-eyed into the very definitely Roaring Twenties. She swallows what's left of her pride through the final year of her sentenceserving as maid to a wealthy familybut stockpiles many invaluable lessons about rapidly-changing life in 1924.

Confrontations with bootleggers and a particularly enthralling flapper go a long way toward molding a strong, confident, clever "Mac," who hits the streets with a gang of her own, determined to claim the good life she deserves by beating the corrupt system and Boston's ethnic mobs at their own game.

Little does she know that the lost love she's mourned for years is closer than she thinks. But have time and circumstance conspired against her once and for all?

FBI agent Sera Warren has been working undercover to track a domestic terrorist group to its origins. When her cover is blown, her priority shifts from closing her case to just making it through the day alive. She ends up in the middle of a bank heist, pointing a gun at her ex-girlfriend, Torrence "Tor" Jewel. She sees a flicker of recognition in Tor's eyes as she pulls her gun and yells, "On the floor!"

Before Tor can fully register that "the one who got away" is standing in front of her, she's pushed facedown onto the floor. Sera might as well shoot her now because as soon as she gets up, Tor's going to kill her. Or kiss her. She's still undecided.

First, they have to survive their reunion, then they can worry about happily ever after.

Dr. Nicole Coussart and Katie Finan seem to have no common thread, but the one they discover will change both of their lives. Nic has lived a privileged life as the only child of two physicians, but she's not happy. Her career as an ER doctor isn't just like on TV, and she's convinced she'll never find a woman who lives up to her high expectations. Katie has struggled since running away from home as a teenager. Now the father of her children has been shot and the killer is after her. As these two women's worlds become tangled, a secret is uncovered that sends Nic spinning into the arms of DEA Attorney Rae Rhodes. Rae helps Nic make decisions that redefine her life as she learns to live and laugh and love for the first time.

Reclusive forensic artist Macy Sheridan agrees to work one final case she hopes will solve the mystery that's haunted her for years. The only things blocking her from achieving her goal are a perfect facial reconstruction and Detective Leigh Monroe, a woman who reminds her of the past and challenges her future.

Leigh Monroe has lost her lover, her livelihood, and her home, but she chooses to look on the bright side. What else could go wrong? Then she meets rude, solitary Macy Sheridan. But Leigh discovers that Macy's façade is a mask, yet as real and untouchable as the forensic reconstructions she so meticulously creates.

Publishers Weekly says: "Powell excels at depicting complex, emotionally vulnerable characters who connect in a believable fashion and enjoy some genuinely hot erotic moments."

Andi Massey lives a secluded life in rural Tennessee. Since a brutal attack, she has avoided emotional connections. She is certain she has nothing left to offer anyone, but secretly wishes her life could be different.

Gwen Palmer has never been afraid to go after what she wants. Betrayed and tired of meaningless sex, she leaves her roots in the big city, seeking the quiet and peace of the mountains. The last thing she wants is another emotionally distant relationship.

Andi and Gwen find that small town life has a way of bringing them together whether they like it or not. But all may be lost when Andi comes face-to-face with her past and the man who has vowed to destroy everything she loves. Can Andi and Gwen overcome their past hurts and fearsas well as present dangersand accept love without boundaries?

Bounty Hunter Luca Bennett's in a bind, which is nothing new, but this time it's her feelings, not a jumper, that's got her tangled in knots. She's finally decided she wants to be more than a friend with benefits to cop Jessica Chance, but when hot and dangerous attorney Ronnie Moreno returns to town, a new case and an old flame threaten to interfere. When the case puts her at odds with the entire police department, Jess included, Luca is forced to make a hard choice that could change her entire world. As the lines between right and wrong blur, she faces the biggest risks of her life. Luca loves to gamble, but the stakes have never been higher. Will she win big or will she lose everything?