S. ALDEN REILLY
BOOKS
The Stella & Chev Mystery series:
THE PHOENIX
Stella Jones is stuck. Since her husband’s death in a tragic accident, she’s taken leave from her job and has hardly left her house for months. But when a friend asks for her help, she reluctantly agrees and is dragged on a crazy stalking spree to catch a cheating spouse in the act and nearly pays with her life. The house they are scoping out suddenly explodes in flames. The husband is killed—possibly murdered—and now Stella has a reason to get up in the morning, to find out what really happened.
Her questions lead her to the office of a feisty PI, Cheverly Fortuna who’s got questions of her own. Stella and Chev decide to investigate some strange coincidences, but when Stella stumbles across a body whose death is cleverly disguised as a suicide, the mystery deepens and she begins to connect her own husband’s “accident” to a larger, darker and more sordid conspiracy of murder, greed, depravity—and a waiting killer.
THE CASSANDRA
Stella Jones is happy in her new life. She even enjoys long stake-outs with her new partner Chev Fortuna while checking out potential boyfriends for their client, Blanche Connor who has been unlucky in love. When a stake out turns into an attempted murder, Stella and Chev risk their own lives to save her latest love interest.
Just after their meeting with Blanche to let her know her unlucky-in-love streak seems destined to continue, a new client requests their services. A famous family of psychic sisters in Stella’s little town have a crisis. The oldest sister is trapped in a vision of the murder of a young girl who went missing twenty years ago. The poor woman keeps saying, “She wants to be found.” Her family fears for her sanity so Stella and Chev agree to help and find that they are investigating a very cold, cold case. When they discover that the missing girl is just one of the possible victims of a depraved and prolific serial killer, they realize that the old case was just the beginning of his dark journey.
While Stella and Chev scramble to uncover his identity, he has set his sights on his pursuers. With everything at risk, they devise a daring plan that might just unmask him or put them into his hands.
THE ANTEROS
The Anteros is the God of requited love and thus, the Avenger of love that is unrequited.
Stella and Chev are attending the beautiful wedding of a friend on an historic college campus when something odd happens. A serving of champagne goes wrong and just when the dancing starts they are called away to investigate a body found in the creek that flows through the campus. Stella's former boss, the president of the College, hires Stella and Chev to find out what happened.
What they discover is that like the creek another force is flowing through the campus, a blog for students unlucky in love, but instead of support, the blog encourages revenge, possibly even murder. The theme of unrequited love rings true for Stella as Chev's heart begin to open and her own heart retreats. but with commencement and graduation just a week away, Stella and Chev have to stop the killings and bring the killers, or as Chev refers to them–the psychos to justice.
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