In the 1940s, an area of land 70 miles northwest of Seattle, Washington, consisted of nothing but a lake surrounded by undeveloped woods. No town, just makeshift cabins built helter-skelter around hit-and-miss fishing holes. Over the years, bored fishermen played cards for increasingly big pots. Soon, loud whispers circulated of serious money to be made, along with illegal liquor and an abundance of available women to spice up the games.
One successful player looked up from his cards long enough to notice prime real estate on the waterfront. The Delite family patriarch set things in motion to develop the land.
Cheater’s Lake was born.
— CHEATER’S LAKE MYSTERIES —
AVAILABLE MARCH/APRIL 2024
BOOK 3: Dead Merchandise
Cheater’s Lake Homicide Detective Mark Walsh and his girlfriend, Olivia, get involved in the world of sex trafficking young girls when Olivia’s cousin, Ana, reaches out to them for help. Ana has overheard her mother’s boyfriend talking about dead girls he refers to as “merchandise.” She flees San Diego for the safety of Cheater’s Lake, Washington. Mark goes undercover to ferret out the network operating from San Diego to Canada, while Olivia and Ortega zero in on Arnie. Arnie is stalking the two women and nothing will be the same when the crimes are solved and the truth is discovered.
“Ayn’s thriller focuses on the hard-hitting topic of sex trafficking and offers a solid blend of action and measured development.”
—BookLife, Publishers Weekly
BOOK 1: Murder at the No-Kill Animal Shelter
This prequel novella in the Cheater’s Lake Mystery series is set in the fictional town of Cheater’s Lake, Washington. The main character is Homicide Detective Mark Walsh, who relocated to the town from Phoenix, Arizona, (after catching his ex-wife in bed with his ‘supervisor’). Mark now works with Officer Sharon Laskey, a former bartender, and is also assisted in his cases by his best friend (from Phoenix) retired San Diego Homicide Detective Greg Hogan (in a wheelchair due to a gang shooting), who is in the process of opening a PI practice in Seattle and LA.
Mark arrives at the Cheater’s Lake Animal Rescue (a no-kill shelter), where he’s informed by Laskey that the two kennels were set on fire and the elderly caretaker (Carson Butts) found dead. The shelter’s director is DM (Daisy Marigold) Collins, a wealthy widow who lives on 60 acres of wooded land in Cheater’s Lake. Why would someone set fire to a no-kill shelter and murder a kindly old caretaker?
Available in paperback and on Kindle from BookLocker, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.
BOOK 2: Dead Lawyers
Agnes Perkins had never seen her boss naked.
And so begins DEAD LAWYERS, the first full-length book in the Pacific Northwest mystery series set in the fictional world of Cheater’s Lake, Washington.
Not only is Attorney Frank Ferris naked, he is also very, very dead. Soon, more lawyers begin dropping like flies, bodies turn up in unlikely settings, and others connected to the legal biz mysteriously disappear. Cheater’s Lake is rocketed into national news and dubbed “The Town That Kills Its Lawyers!” Could there be a serial killer at work, one who specializes in offing lawyers?
Homicide Detective Mark Walsh heads up the investigations. Still considered a “new” transfer from Phoenix, he must weather small town politics and decades old secrets in his quest for the truth.
Available in paperback and on Kindle from BookLocker, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.
“The storytelling in this novel is compelling . . . the premise is creative and fresh.”
—BookLife, Publishers Weekly