Joyce and Jim Lavene Books in Order

With an execution approaching, Sheriff Sharyn Howard reopens the murder of a prom queen killed ten years earlier. Questioning the conviction forces her to examine her late father's investigation and risk his reputation.

A writer investigating a wartime pilot's disappearance goes missing near a lake. When dredging reveals his truck and the long-lost aircraft, Sheriff Sharyn Howard must connect recent violence with a decades-old mystery.

A businessman confesses to an old murder and is subsequently found hanged. Sheriff Sharyn Howard investigates a childhood secret linking prominent townsmen and her own deputy, while someone targets those who remember it.

A woman's apparent death by bear attack becomes suspicious when evidence suggests deliberate poisoning. Sheriff Sharyn Howard investigates a bitter family inheritance dispute as another death complicates the question of who stands to benefit.

Louisa Drayton impersonates her elderly aunt to protect her niece from an unwanted suitor and rescue the family's finances. Maintaining her disguise becomes harder when Lord Devon Stanton complicates both her plans and her heart.

Sheriff Sharyn Howard faces an election challenge as violence unsettles Diamond Springs. A senator's shooting during a historical reenactment and a woman's motel death bring troubling questions close to Sharyn's mother and her secrets.

A summer camp's reopening exposes a bloodstained dress hidden in a suitcase. Sheriff Sharyn Howard revisits an unsolved case inherited from her grandfather, discovering that fresh evidence can provoke a killer determined to conceal the past.

A robbery gang and the stabbing of a college student give Sheriff Sharyn Howard competing investigations. When suspicion falls close to her aunt, she must untangle connections between the violence and those accused of it.

A burned car and a man caught in an animal trap appear to be accidents amid local wildfires. With an election approaching, Sheriff Sharyn Howard investigates murders whose convenient explanations may endanger someone she loves.

Sheriff Sharyn Howard reluctantly joins a law enforcement training weekend in an isolated former mining town. Cut off from easy escape, the participants find themselves hunted by someone who has turned their gathering deadly.

A cemetery discovery exposes a killing involving two guns and a victim buried alive. Sheriff Sharyn Howard investigates a man missing for years, navigating his complicated relationships and tensions between competing local law enforcement agencies.

Maggie Madison works to help homeless children despite opposition from her neighbor Adam Fuentes. When he asks her to locate his runaway niece, attraction grows alongside a conflict over compassion, trust, and Maggie's painful past.

This guide follows a novel from initial idea through drafting and the search for publication. Joyce and Jim Lavene cover plot, characterization, genres, agents, and marketing, helping aspiring writers understand both storytelling and the publishing process.

A speedboat crashes into a pier, leaving a missing assistant's bloodied bag but no body. Sheriff Sharyn Howard follows evidence toward the racetrack, where a driver's connections to the woman raise new questions about her disappearance.

Botanist Peggy Lee discovers a wealthy philanderer's body at her Charlotte garden shop. When police blame a homeless man, she uses her knowledge of plants and her own inquiries to challenge their explanation.

Peggy Lee's friend dies after driving off a ramp, leaving his wife suspected over a substantial insurance policy. Another family death deepens the mystery, and Peggy investigates to find whether grief is concealing murder.

A botanist dies in an apparent gas explosion, and his brother later collapses in a garden surrounded by hyacinths. Peggy Lee investigates the family's misfortunes, using botanical clues to question whether either death was accidental.

A NASCAR driver's murder casts suspicion on rival Bobby Furr after a collision on the track. Bobby's sister Ruby and her husband, retired Chicago cop Glad Wycznewski, investigate to clear him amid racing rivalries.

Sheriff Sharyn Howard pursues the murders of her father and a deputy, suspecting powerful senator Jack Winter. Her risky plan to get close to him threatens the trust of her colleagues and the people she loves.

Ruby and Glad's trip to the Dover raceway takes a dangerous turn after they help a beaten stranger. His subsequent death, confusing family identities, and an old armored-car robbery draw them into another racing mystery.

A dead diver and a woman found in a swimming pool present seemingly separate cases. Botanist Peggy Lee notices an aquatic plant clue that may connect the deaths, prompting her to investigate beyond the obvious explanations.

Pet psychic Mary Catherine Roberts returns to her hometown and becomes entangled in a society matriarch's murder. The only witness is a turtle named Tommy, whose unusual testimony may help her uncover the killer.

Drought threatens Peggy Lee's garden shop, and a historical society expedition offers an unusual distraction. When the search for old remains uncovers a recently dead volunteer, Peggy investigates the unsettling botanical evidence surrounding the body.

Duck mayor Dae O'Donnell can locate lost objects through touch, but a search for a missing watch leads to murder. She must use her gift to help a local woman whose innocence is in doubt.

Dae O'Donnell hosts a conference for local elected officials when a fierce storm traps the guests. A fellow mayor's death and a vision triggered by her ring suggest a murderer may be among them.

A violent theft at a local museum kills its curator and leaves Dae O'Donnell injured. Her psychic abilities intensify, forcing her to interpret disturbing impressions from objects while working with former FBI agent Kevin Brickman.

The return of Kevin Brickman's psychic former fiancée unsettles Dae O'Donnell's relationship. When a murdered man's medallion points toward his kidnapped daughter, Dae must cooperate with the woman whose arrival has complicated her life.

Peggy Lee helps a homicide lieutenant investigate plant poisonings, only to discover a disturbing personal connection. Two victims have named her dead husband, suggesting someone is deliberately drawing her into a mystery rooted in her past.

Wealthy Emilie Ferrier wants to adopt the niece and nephew mechanic Nick Garrett is raising after his sister's death. Christmas brings them together, but Nick's hopes for the children complicate their attraction and Emilie's plans.

An amber necklace brings Dae O'Donnell an unwanted visitor: a witch's spirit demanding a proper burial. As an election approaches, the request uncovers an old murder while her opponent attacks her use of psychic abilities.

Peggy Lee helps organize an international flower show in Charlotte when an orchid specialist is found shot and buried among thyme. She investigates competing growers, following botanical clues as her family's own troubles complicate the case.

Framed for embezzlement, Maggie Grady retreats to her aunt's Durham pie shop. When her former boss arrives promising to clear her name and is found dead, Maggie investigates to protect herself and the bakery.

Retired psychic investigator Grace Harris is persuaded to search for software entrepreneur Steve Williams's missing young son. Returning to work reopens painful memories, while distrust, concealed information, and attraction complicate her effort to find the child.

Skye Mertz drives a taxi for the undead while raising her daughter and dealing with a ghostly mother-in-law. A new partner's troubles draw her into supernatural intrigue as questions linger about her husband's death and her own survival.

Psychic mayor Dae O'Donnell investigates the death of a wild horse rescue director when her friend Jake becomes a suspect. Visions triggered by a stone horse suggest an ancient cult may complicate the present crime.

Zoe Chase leaves her office job to finance a diner through a food truck selling biscuit bowls. When a rival vendor is found dead inside her truck, she must investigate to protect herself and her employee.

Forensic botanist Peggy Lee pursues a decades-old death while searching for answers about her husband's murder. A lead supplied by an online friend turns dangerous when another man dies from lily-of-the-valley poisoning, threatening Peggy and her son.

Three Wilmington witches hope to retire, but first they must train successors and transfer their spell book. Olivia's murder and the book's theft leave Molly and Elsie confronting a powerful young witch while their own abilities fade.

Maggie Grady discovers that Aunt Clara's new boyfriend has profited from the deaths of several wives. When he is shot and dies at their pie shop, Maggie and newspaper owner Ryan must clear Clara of suspicion.

After a devastating car crash, police officer Skye Mertz faces death and the loss of her husband. A mysterious offer promises twenty more years in exchange for service, giving her a chance to protect their daughter and investigate.

Lisa Wellman and Simon Canterville prepare to open a Portsmouth bookshop at Christmas, only to find a dead opponent on the roof. Lisa's former boyfriend investigates, while the ghost of Charles Dickens offers unexpected help with the mystery.

Duck's Fourth of July celebrations bring crowds and complications for psychic mayor Dae O'Donnell. The murder of a gambling ship's captain draws her into an investigation involving a suspected mermaid and strange creatures from the sea.

Witch Sunshine Merryweather needs a new detective partner after her colleague's murder. A banshee searching for the last O'Neill heir agrees to help, but their uneasy partnership must contend with a killer who combines different kinds of magic.

Skye Mertz investigates a sorcerer's murder while fellow workers in her unusual taxi service begin disappearing. A possible curse and renewed questions about her husband's death push her toward defying the boss who controls her extended life.

Mardi Gras brings business to Zoe Chase's food truck and an invitation to a masked ball. When an investigative journalist is murdered among hundreds of anonymous guests, Zoe searches for answers the police seem reluctant to reveal.

Zoe Chase enters a televised food truck competition with hopes of winning the money needed for her diner. Murders interrupt the race across the Southeast, and her lawyer friend Miguel becomes a suspect she must help clear.

Zoe Chase visits her uncle's swamp home hoping to obtain an old Airstream for her food truck. His dispute with a neighbor over an albino alligator leads to a cooking contest that inspires Zoe's biscuit bowl idea.

Attorney Sarah Tucker returns to sell the Virginia farm where her grandparents vanished sixteen years earlier. A murder and rumors of buried Confederate gold turn the sale into a dangerous search for the truth about her family's disappearance.

Vandalism at Peggy Lee's garden shop accompanies threats against her family. When her son investigates a woman killed by poison on a mink coat, Peggy's botanical findings deepen suspicion and force her to revisit earlier cases.

A sea witch seeking a mate leaves young male witches dead along the Carolina coast. When prospective coven member Brian becomes her target, Molly, Elsie and their supernatural allies must protect him from a deadly magical ritual.

Wildlife agent Bonnie Tuttle returns to Tennessee to care for her mother and replace a retiring colleague. A fire leaves that colleague murdered and a wolf pup wounded, while the killer believes Bonnie possesses something worth killing for.

Molly, Elsie and their coven attend an exclusive Witches Ball while still searching for their stolen spell book. A council member's murder locks down the castle, forcing them to investigate under pressure from hostile authorities and a Spanish Inquisitor.

Disguised as a man, Pinkerton agent Julia Jackson pursues a kidnapper toward North Carolina's Cherokee reservation. The assignment offers a possible link to her fiance's murderer, but traveling with three men puts her identity and safety at risk.