THE LAVENDER BUTTERFLY MURDERS - - Synopsis

Scotia MacKinnon has survived two decades of law enforcement work, three marriages, and too many years of single parenting. She relishes her laid-back lifestyle on San Juan Island and her relationship with a Seattle maritime attorney. But even in paradise, Scotia knows when to head for calmer waters. Or what she thinks will be calmer waters.

Frustrated with her deteriorating love life and the return of her long-absent ex-husband, Scotia opts for seven days of tranquility and therapeutic massage at a yoga retreat on neighborong Santa Maria Island. But all hopes of finding enlightenment are dashed when Scotia becomes embroiled in a nasty struggle between the spa's innkeeper and her rustic neighbors, a series of accidents . . . and what looks like murder. As a brewing storm traps her on the island with the terrified guests, assisted by her zany assistant Zelda Jones, Scotia calls on her earthly ingenuity - and some divine justice -- to catch a viscious killer.

 THE DEAD WIVES SOCIETY -- Synopsis

Is Forbes Cameron every woman's dream? A serial lothario?
A heartless womanizer whose only true love is his latest victim's bank account?

Once again Sharon Duncan's tough, stylish private eye, Scotia McKinnon, finds tranquil sailing days in the San Juan Islands interrupted. This time it's the marital misdeeds of a smooth ex-diplomat who has now relieved a local island doctor of her investments, her son's college fund and some valuable family heirlooms.

Although she doesn't much care for the lady in question, Scotia takes the case. With the help of her stalwart Friday Harbor Irregulars - newspaper editor Jared Saperstein and research assistant Zelda Jones - Scotia uncovers a trail of broken hearts and marriages-for-money that stretch from California's Napa Valley to a posh London flat and the intrigue-filled back streets of Istanbul.

When Scotia and friends turn up the heat on the dashing ex-diplomat, suddenly the hunters become the hunted and there remain only 24 hours to stop the serial groom before he adds a new member to the roster of the Dead Wives Society!

 A DEEP BLUE FAREWELL -- Synopsis

From a fisherman's bar on Alaska's Kodiak Island, to an abandoned sailboat in the Strait of Georgia, to a hydroponic drug-growing enterprise in the hinterlands of British Columbia, Scotia MacKinnon's new client sends her in desperate pursuit of his sister Tina's killer...one step ahead of the killer who strikes again...and yet again.

P.I. Scotia MacKinnon, former big-city detective, makes her home on the sailing sloop Dragonspray at the port of Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. There, in the upper reaches of the Pacific Northwest, Scotia refuses to accept the Sheriff's conclusion that Tina - Alaska crab fisher and single-handed sailor - met an accidental death by drowning. A Deep Blue Farewell brings back the Spring Street Regulars: madcap research assistant Zelda Jones with a new career and a new True Love; Friday Gazette publisher Jared Saperstein; and introduces septuagenarian political activist Abigail Leedle.

Scotia's methodical inquiries on her client's behalf uncover a chain of secrets, lies and omissions of information orchestrated by a kaleidoscopic crew of suspects and subplots. Events meet critical mass when Scotia's client is found dead on Brown Sugar Beach, and she turns for inspiration to the long history of island smuggling and an ongoing Coast Guard investigation...and ultimately must navigate some very dangerous waters of deceit, betrayal and international crime to an ominous and stunning denouement in Desolation Sound.

 DEATH ON A CASUAL FRIDAY -- Synopsis

When San Francisco Bay area civil rights attorney Julio Montenegro is murdered at the Berkeley Marina, the crime seems perfect. No motive, no evidence, no suspects. Four months later his young widow Elyse appears in the office of Friday Harbor (San Juan Island) investigator Scotia MacKinnon begging for protection against a stalker she believes killed her husband. That same day Elyse's friend is involved in a fatal single vehicle accident while driving Elyse's little red car, an accident that Sheriff Bishop attributes to excessive speed while driving under the influence.

Enlisting the assistance of her capricious red-headed assistant, Zelda Jones, whose computer skills exceed George Orwell's wildest nightmares, Scotia opens the Montenegro investigation. Her interpretation of the case is enriched by the pithy analyses of Friday Gazette publisher, Jared Saperstein, a Sherlock Holmes enthusiast. Jared's discourse on the brewing white separatist revolution is an eye-opener for Scotia. The trail leads back to the scene of the crime - and two other recent murders with the same M.O. - and Scotia must abandon weekend sailing plans with her significant other, Seattle maritime attorney Nicholas Anastazi.

Information gathering in Berkeley turns up Montenegro's colleagues Felipe de los Santos and Judith Karamazov. De los Santos has more than civil rights on his mind; and Judith's description of Julio's political, journalistic and amorous endeavors paints a vivid portrait of multi-personal and multi-national possibilities. . . a portrait which becomes suddenly enlarged after a visit to the Sea Cliff residence of the young widow's parents.

Barely back in Friday Harbor, Scotia responds to a plea for help from the peripatetic Zelda, who is hospitalized in Idaho with a broken leg she acquired while conducting some unauthorized sleuthing. Scotia flies off in a winter gale to rescue her hapless assistant. Deep in the winter woods of the Sawtooth Mountains she turns up more pieces to the Montenegro puzzle . . . a puzzle that is finally completed when Elyse's father and her husband's killer both arrive on San Juan Island. The case cracks wide open in a winter storm chase when white supremacy meets malice domestic.

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