Showing results by author "Nick Russell" in All Categories

Winter is a special time in the charming little mountain town of Big Lake, Arizona. Fireplace smoke rises from chimneys as kids build snowmen or skate on the frozen surface of Miller’s Pond, neighbors help neighbors shovel sidewalks and driveways, and there’s nothing like enjoying a hot toddy or a mug of cocoa to warm up after a busy day. But when a shocking act of violence leaves a family man dead and a suspect on the run, Sheriff Jim Weber and his deputies launch a manhunt that is hampered by the rough mountain landscape, back-to-back snowstorms, reluctant witnesses, lies, and even a ...

Life is already complicated enough for John Lee Quarrels, what with his estranged wife dropping in for unannounced sleepovers, her oversexed sister tempting him, his pot smoking ponytailed grandfather growing his own stash, his Elvis obsessed grandmother, and being caught smack dab in the middle of a power struggle between the Sheriff and Chief Deputy. But when a road construction crew unearths the skeletons of three murder victims, John Lee suddenly finds himself on the trail of a killer who may well have died long before the deputy was even born.

Life has been difficult lately for Somerton County Deputy Sheriff John Lee Quarrels. He's on the trail of a sexual predator, his love life is in turmoil, his soon-to-be ex-wife just served him with divorce papers, someone has stolen his police car and is using its radio to broadcast offensive jokes, a 350-pound redneck named Baby Bubba just tried to brain him with a shovel, and all of that happened before John Lee shot the dead guy.

When an armored car hijacking leaves two men dead, Arizona Sheriff Jim Weber takes the crime personally, because one of the dead men is his brother-in-law. His hunt for the killers leads him into a world of sordid sex, deceit, and violence, with a suspect list that includes jilted women, a family of anti-government survivalists, and the beautiful wife of the richest man in town. With a plot that has more twists and turns than an Arizona mountain road, a cast of characters you won't soon forget.

Willie Chandler didn’t even want to go fishing that dreary, rainy spring morning, and he darned sure didn’t want to spend any time with his rude, crude mooch of a brother-in-law, Larry Munson. But yet he found himself standing on the edge of the lake in the early morning drizzle, listening to Larry brag about how many women he had bedded and how many fish he had caught. It was enough to tick off even the most affable person, and when Willie finally had enough of Larry’s braggadocio, he stalked off, intending to climb up the steep mountainside to the road and walk home. Instead, he ...

When the father he never knew shows up at his house in the middle of the night, beaten and his body mutilated, with only a vague explanation of what happened to him, Somerton County Deputy John Lee Quarrels suspects there's more to the story than he is being told. And when his father just as mysteriously disappears two days later, John Lee knows there is trouble in store for him.

Tongues are wagging all over town about Big Lake's newest business, the Black Stocking Brewpub, where the scantily clad waitresses are drawing crowds of men and the ire of local churchgoers. And that's before the arrogant womanizer who owns the brewpub is found murdered! Sheriff Jim Weber and his deputies have plenty of suspects to choose from as they begin to navigate the treacherous currents left in the wake of the murder, because the dead man, a person who seemingly knew no limits, possessed no humanity, and cared for nothing apart from his own greed and twisted desires, has left behind ...

Sheriff Jim Weber always said it was just a matter of time before somebody shot Bureau of Indian Affairs Agent Gordon Hahn. The man was a loud, crude, misogynist drunk who treated women with disrespect, and was a racist who rode roughshod over the people of the White Mountain Apache Reservation. So Weber wasn't surprised when somebody finally did put an end to all of it with a bullet. He just didn't appreciate Hahn getting himself killed in the middle of Big Lake's annual Pioneers Days fireworks display. With more people who wanted the victim dead than alive, Weber and his deputies have ...

When someone dressed in a ninja costume was first seen lurking around homes in Big Lake, everyone assumed it was some kind of teenage mischief. Things escalated when the ninja was spotted peeking in people’s windows. Sheriff Weber and his deputies are on the lookout for the mysterious prankster, and more sightings seem to come in every day. Things take a deadly turn when the ninja singles out a respected local businessman and attacks him with a sword. More attacks follow and soon the whole town is on edge, locking their doors and loading their guns. Who would want to hurt the nicest man ...

When mysterious fires begin plaguing the little mountain town of Big Lake, Arizona, it doesn't take Sheriff Jim Weber long to realize that a serial arsonist is on the loose and has to be stopped before somebody dies or the entire forest goes up in flames. With the help of C.C. Callahan, a beautiful Deputy Fire Marshal, the sheriff begins the hunt while dealing with an upstart newspaper publisher hell-bent on smearing his good name and ruining his reputation. As the fires continue, fingers of blame are pointed and everybody in Big Lake wonders whose home or business will be the next.

When the richest man in Big Lake is murdered on the night he announces his bid for state senator, the list of suspects stretches all the way from the small mountain town to the governor's office. Sheriff Jim Weber's investigation reveals a web of secrets, illicit sex, and shattered lives that teaches him that nothing is what it appears to be and that sometimes the people we think we know are not at all what we believe them to be.

The opening of Big Lake’s new medical marijuana dispensary caused quite a stir in the little mountain town, drawing debates before the Town Council and protesters to the site even as the building was being remodeled. With the doors now open and business flourishing, a crew of diehard protesters led by a big man who is used to getting his way continues to picket the business, harassing both employees and customers. But nobody expected the carnage that would happen on a rainy night when a call at home informs Sheriff Jim Weber of a robbery gone wrong at the dispensary that leaves five ...

When Somerton County "bad girl" Leona Darling goes missing, Deputy John Lee Quarrels is ordered to find her. How hard could it be? Just look in the nearest gin mill, right? But Leona was nowhere to be found. As he begins asking questions, John Lee discovers that Leona was a badge bunny, a cop groupie who was well-known on a less than professional basis by many of his fellow lawmen. He also discovers that asking questions can get you into trouble, especially when the people you are asking wear badges, carry guns for a living, and have something to lose.

It's deer season and the mountains around Big Lake are filled with trophy hunters. But deer aren't the only things being stalked. When Emma Moyer, Big Lake's resident environmental activist, disrupts a guided hunt, it leads to a deadly confrontation. Now Sheriff Jim Weber has to find a killer from a list of suspects that include angry hunters, land developers, business owners, estranged family members, and others that Emma has crossed over the years. And all the while, a perilous winter storm is sweeping across the mountains, hampering his investigation and hiding secrets.

With only two weeks to go before their wedding, Big Lake Sheriff Jim Weber and his fiancée, Deputy Robyn Fuchette are busy managing all of the last-minute details before the big day while dealing with Robyn’s often-difficult mother, whose demands have already lost them the florist and the limousine. But when compromising photographs of the bride to be begin surfacing, they become the talk of the town. Suddenly Robyn has gone from being a well-respected deputy and member of the community to a pariah, shunned by people she thought were her friends and whispered about over back fences and ...

Big Lake's first annual Snowdaze celebration to kick off the winter season was off to a good start. Mother Nature cooperated with the event planners with a cold front that brought a heavy snowfall to the White Mountains of Arizona, dumping over a foot of the white stuff at the higher elevations just two days before Snowdaze weekend began in early December. The little mountain town looked like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting, with Christmas decorations strung from the light poles on Main Street, kids building snowmen in their yards, and smoke rising from chimneys all over Big ...

Life is good in Elmhurst, Ohio. The war is over, the economy is booming, and the future looks bright. But just across the deep ravine known as Dog's Run is a different life, one where times are always hard and dreams seldom come true. When Wanda Jean Reider, a beautiful young woman from the wrong side of town, is found dead in Dog's Run secrets begin to come out. Secrets that will expose hidden sins and a dark side of life carried on behind the manicured lawns and inside the back rooms of the stores along Main Street.

Everyone in Big Lake was surprised when hard-drinking good old boy Levi Bischoff left town and went to a rehab clinic to dry out. No one thought it would be long before he fell back into his old ways, but Levi proved them wrong, moving to the college town of Flagstaff, meeting a nice girl, enrolling in classes at Northern Arizona University, and following the straight and narrow path. But how long could that last? Apparently not long, because late one night Levi hit a young woman with his truck, and when deputies responded to the fatal accident scene, it was obvious that he was intoxicated....

A simple trip to town, a chance meeting with a pretty young woman, and a few words was all it took for Lucas Wirtz to flee his family farm and the abusive father who dominated it. Following Rachel McNally to the big city, he had no idea how much his life and the world around him would change. Chronicling the days leading up to World War I and the events that followed, Tinder Street is the first book in a saga that will take readers from rural farms to a major industrial city in the Midwest, across an ocean where German U-boats lurk waiting for a target to come within range of their deadly ...

When a young Apache man is found hanging from a tree on Cat Mountain, Sheriff Jim Weber and FBI agent Larry Parks go on the hunt for the killers and by the time their investigation is over, the idealistic cover is ripped from the little mountain town of Big Lake, revealing old prejudices, resentments, and hatred. In their search for justice, Sheriff Weber and Parks encounter Native American activists, a kinky couple whose passion burns as hot as their tempers, a teenager with excess baggage, and a father and son team of small town bullies, to name just a few.