The Desert Saint

"Noirish, hard-edged, and memorable." — Booklife
"Maria and Carla are captivating figures." — Kirkus Reviews
“An emotionally charged, brilliantly written crime thriller.” — BestThrillers.com

Complex characters. Shocking twists. A debut crime thriller readers can't put down.

When Maria Varela first made detective, more than a few cops called her a nepo-baby behind her back. Sure, having a legendary detective for a father hadn’t hurt her career, but he was retired, and the one closing cases was her, not him. Eventually all the arrests silenced even the loudest of the doubters.

Then a long dormant serial killer murders her brother.

Last seen in 1983, the Desert Saint killed five people. All shot twice in the head with the same gun. All with a token placed on the left hand. The best efforts of law enforcement to solve the murders had failed, and when the killings stopped, Las Vegas moved on. Now, only retired cops and the family members of the victims even remember who the Desert Saint was.

So why return now? And why kill her brother?

Capturing a killer no one else could is a hard enough task.

Figuring out why the Desert Saint came for her brother might tear Maria's life apart.

Some crimes are best left unsolved.

Readers say:
“As much of a page-turner as anything I've read in recent memory. I raced through this book in two days."
“Non-stop action, tight pacing, and great characters."
"First surprise from this genre in a long time"
"An absolutely fantastic and riveting book."
"I would set aside a day, a nice bottle of something, some snacks and sit and read this book. Such a good story with so many twists and turns."
"Excellent story, never saw the ending coming, believable characters, well researched, would reccommend to all.
"One the best stories I have read in a long time."
"A great read, didn't put it down till it was finished, looking forward to more stories from this great author."