Showing results by author "Blair Howard" in All Categories

When Kelsey Hart disappeared three years ago, her older sister, Brit, never gave up hope. But as time passed, and she heard nothing from her sister, she knew she needed help. Enter PI Harry Starke, the man with a reputation for solving the impossible cases. As Harry digs into Kelsey’s disappearance, he quickly realizes that nothing is as it seems. Slowly, he uncovers dark secrets and a web of lies that will shake the Hart family to its core. And with every clue he uncovers, the mystery deepens, and people begin to die.

One dark Friday evening in October, Dillon Harper and Brian McDaniel went out to drink a few beers and smoke a little marijuana. Their bodies were found hours later on the railroad tracks north of town. They’d both been struck by the midnight train. The autopsies revealed copious amounts of alcohol in their system so their deaths were deemed accidental. However, the brothers of the two men believe the investigation was botched and, knowing them as they did, don’t believe they were drunk, high, or stupid enough to just lay down on the railroad tracks and go to sleep.

On a balmy, late summer morning in Hilden Heights, Hattie Baker is found dead in her pool, and she wasn’t the first. A socialite and successful business owner, Hattie was an excellent swimmer. Even so, her death was ruled an accident. Her boyfriend, Mason Willis, however, doesn’t believe it was an accident. He thinks she was murdered and goes to Harry Starke for help. Thus begins an investigation that almost costs Harry his life.

Mystery woman, Morrigan Doyle, is in prison. Finn Doyle, her son, has ties to the Irish mob in New York. He became acquainted with Harry Starke when Harry was investigating his mother’s billion-dollar Ponzi scheme. But Finn has an agenda of his own and wants to hire Harry to “find a friend,” Matteo Rossi. Rossi, a low-level thug, a soldier in the Irish mob, is missing and Finn is worried, thinking someone has “offed him,” and he wants to know who. Initially, Harry turns Finn down.

Private investigator Tucker Randall doesn’t have time for cold cases, but when Gary Fisher begs them to solve his brother’s murder eleven years ago before their father dies, the partners can’t say no. What at first seems like a simple cold case in a small Tennessee town explodes into a deadly conspiracy involving gunrunning, corrupt officials, and a series of execution-style murders. And at the center of it all stands a sadistic killer with a twisted concept of right and wrong.

When the police refuse to investigate the disappearance of Mallory Carver’s niece, Julie, her family turns to private investigator Tucker Randall and thus set off a dangerous chain of events. Julie disappeared while hiking in the beautiful yet treacherous Cherokee National Forest, and Randall, a former FBI agent with a haunted past, can’t understand why the police won’t get involved. But as he delves deeper into the forest’s secrets, he realizes that someone is willing to do whatever it takes to keep the truth buried, and he’s determined to solve the case and bring the missing girl home.

The USF has assembled the largest battle fleet in its history as they prepare for the inevitable cataclysmic battle with the Swarm. Avenger, a Class C heavy battle cruiser, is sent on an urgent rescue mission to the planet Typhon in the Eta Persei star system. A planet devastated and left desolate at the beginning of the war against the Swarm, an alien invader from another reality. Their intent? The total eradication of the human race from the galaxy. What they find on Typhon could change the outcome of the war.

The poker game had not yet begun, but we found him at the table, shot three times in the chest. My name’s Harry Starke. I’m an ex-cop turned private investigator. It was the week before Christmas. My friend was dead. I looked down at his body and I made him a promise. I promised to find his killer and break his arms no matter what it took. Bad idea. Everyone knows you don’t make promises like that, not even to the dead.

There’s something strange going on at Clearwater Psychiatric Hospital. Director Dr. Norman Gill has a list in his desk drawer. He keeps it locked away. It’s for his eyes only. The list has seven names, with seven dates. Seven deaths in 11 months. Harry Starke will have to sharpen his skills for this one. Is there a lunatic loose in the hospital? A staff member, a patient? Does someone else have a list, and if so...how many names are on it?

The game’s afoot, only Harry has no idea... Not yet anyway. It seems his enemies are endless, and his career and life are always at stake. This time, though, he may not make it out unscathed. Has Harry’s past finally caught up with him? Is this the end?

Five years after physicist Mark Holder discovered the Slipstream Drive in 2058, humanity reached for the stars and began to colonize the galaxy. For centuries, humans continued to populate system after system without encountering intelligent alien life. Some twelve hundred years later, after many generations of relative peace, in the year 3278, human space is invaded by a powerful and mysterious enemy. To these invaders the very concept of free will is heresy. Their crusade—to eradicate humanity. The war begins, and the fight for the survival of the human race is on.

On a balmy afternoon in May 2002, wealthy stockbroker Peter Nicholson was turkey hunting with three friends in Prentice Cooper State Forest when he tripped, fell on his shotgun, and accidentally shot himself … dead, but did he? Fifteen years later, as a last resort, Nicholson’s mother asks Harry Starke to find the truth. As we all know, Harry loves a cold case, but … as always, there’s a twist in the tale.

Commodore Richard Morian’s mission is to capture the Imperator, but it will take a planetary invasion on a grand scale to do so, a battle fought in space, in the air, and on the ground. And all this to a backdrop of political intrigue that threatens to bring the entire Sovereign system down.

Eight years ago, Luther McNeer was convicted of his wife’s brutal murder. The evidence was damning: his clothes were soaked in her blood, no signs of forced entry, and a sketchy alibi about sleeping through the entire ordeal. But his brother Vinny has never stopped believing in Luther’s innocence. Private investigators Mallory Carver and Tucker Randall have perfected their professional partnership, though neither will admit that their crackling chemistry extends far beyond case files and stake-outs. That is until they discover a string of similar murders spanning multiple jurisdictions.

The hills of horse country, Shenandoah Valley, the Blue Ridge Mountains and numerous wineries are among the state's offerings. Here's a guide to the national and state parks, the cities, towns and villages and everything in between. Places to stay and eat, along with recommended fall foliage tours.

Maggie Hart, a student at UTC, was abducted on Labor Day. Her body was found five days later on the RiverPark. She’d been strangled. She wasn’t the first, nor would she be the last. Harry Starke, recovering from a near-death experience, is dragged reluctantly into an investigation that quickly turns into a cat and mouse game between Harry and a very clever killer, Harry being the mouse. Emoji is an action-packed, lightning-paced story, with an explosive finale you’ll not see coming.

“Stand absolutely still, Amanda,” she read, “and you won’t get hurt.” Two seconds later a bullet from a sniper’s rifle shattered the driver’s side window of her Lexus SUV. That’s how it began, early on a Friday morning when Amanda, Harry’s wife, found the note tucked under her windshield wiper. The incident was quickly followed by a series of events that would put his family and friends in deadly danger and test Harry to his limits.

The phone call came on a Tuesday evening in the middle of August. Harry Starke hadn’t heard from his old school friend in almost five years, and he hadn’t thought about him in almost as long. Tom Sattler wanted to meet, and it wouldn’t wait until morning. But when Harry arrived at Sattler’s home less than an hour later, he found him lying in a pool of blood with a single gunshot wound to his head and .22 revolver lying close to his hand. Was it suicide, or was Tom Sattler murdered? If so, by whom and why?

Tabitha Willard was a beautiful, wealthy young woman with everything to live for, so why did she take her own life? What did powerful US Congressman Gordon “little Billy” Harper have to do with it? And then there’s Lester, “Shady” Tree, a crooked entrepreneur and a man with secrets. What about him? Harry Starke, an ex-cop turned private investigator, wants to know, and his search for the answers leads him deep into the shadows of the underworld, and the body count begins to rise. Can Starke find the answers he needs and stop the carnage?

It was one of those beautiful, balmy days on Calypso Key in the US Virgin Islands. The sky was blue and a cool breeze was blowing in off the ocean as Harry and Amanda took their vows. All of their friends were there and all was well with the world…and then the sky fell. Harry draws the line at getting involved when the death of one of his father’s friends intrudes upon his wedding day, until he finds out he owes the girl’s father a debt he can never repay. And so he is dragged into an investigation of not just one murder, but two—and the wealthiest, most dysfunctional family he’s ever met.