"Politics, secrets, and danger—trouble never stays buried
Peace in Mapleton doesn’t last. Police Chief Gordon Hepler is already juggling a bitter ex-mayoral candidate who refuses to accept election results and a new council member determined to cut police department’s funding.
Meanwhile, Angie’s long-delayed diner remodel uncovers an old journal, sparking her curiosity about the girl who wrote it. But as she digs for answers, is she uncovering more than she bargained for?
Now Gordon must untangle political maneuvering, personal grudges, and hidden agendas before danger closes in on the people he loves most.
Deadly Ambitions delivers small-town intrigue, political tension, and page-turning suspense rooted in both history and today’s ambitions."
"How can he solve crimes if he’s not allowed to investigate?
Gordon Hepler, Mapleton’s Chief of Police, has his hands full. During the groundbreaking ceremony for expansion of the community center, he discovers a dead body. Shortly afterward, the center’s CEO is assaulted. Does someone have it in for the community center and its new programs designed to benefit the homeless? Or does it have something to do with the highly contested upcoming mayoral election?
Frustration builds as clues and suspects fall into other jurisdictions, effectively tying Gordon’s hands. The investigation soon resembles a giant bowl of spaghetti. Can he follow the rules and still protect his city?
Although it’s part of a series, this police-procedural cozy-mystery blend—and all the Mapleton books—can be read as small-town stand alones."
"Nothing Ever Happens In Mapleton … Until It Does
A small town police procedural-cozy mystery blend. In the eleventh offering in Terry Odell’s Mapleton Mystery series, Deadly Relations brings back familiar faces and introduces new ones. (Not to mention a couple of dogs and cats!)
Gordon Hepler, Mapleton, Colorado’s Police Chief, is called away from a quiet Sunday with his wife to an emergency situation at the home he’s planning to sell. A man has chained himself to the front porch, threatening to set off an explosive.
When Gordon discovers he knows the arsonist—his brother-in-law from his previous failed marriage—he’s sent down an unexpected road to find his ex-wife, who, along with his brother-in-law, has disappeared. Does Gordon need to worry that his brother-in-law will put in another appearance to finish what he’s started?
Meanwhile, he has to find a balance between his Chief Stuff and his Cop Stuff. Is Mapleton facing a homeless problem? Then there’s the town council, the budget, the upcoming election, plus finding a way to keep his officers up to speed with all the changes in crime. Adding the thorn-in-his-side reporter who seems to want to undermine everything Gordon’s trying to do for his town, creates more headaches."
"Changing Your Life Won’t Make Things Easier
Book 4 in Terry Odell’s Colorado-based Triple-D Ranch Romantic Suspense series catches up with the cowboys. There’s more to ranch life than minding the cattle.
Cowhand Frank Wembly loves his work on the Triple-D Ranch. After his stint in the army as a Ranger, he relishes the peaceful life in the Colorado mountains. However, the ranch is in financial straits, and a cattle rustler threatens to destroy what he’s grown to love. Meeting Kiera when she’s stranded on the ranch has Frank wondering if he should rethink his “no attachments, no strings” lifestyle. But first, he has to call on his army skills to help keep the Triple-D running.
Financial advisor Kiera O’Leary thinks her new boss might be guilty of more than sexual harassment, so she takes advantage of her use it or lose it vacation time before she officially quits. She sets off to pursue her dream of being a photographer—until a car-meets-cow incident forces a shift in plans. She refuses to be a guest at the Triple-D ranch and insists on trading her bookkeeping skills for room and board to help get the ranch’s finances in order. She’s falling for one of the ranch hands, but things are heating up at home. Meanwhile, she finds herself in the middle of a mystery—one with potentially deadly consequences."
"A Mapleton Mystery/Pine Hills police crossover, a blend of cozy mystery and police procedural from Award Winning Author Terry Odell.
Are Gordon’s Days in Mapleton Numbered?
All Mapleton Police Chief Gordon Hepler wants is to enjoy a rare quiet moment and have a peaceful lunch. Before he can finish his sandwich, Angie, his wife, calls to say her business partner is going to be arrested at a wedding reception they’re catering. Seems her partner stumbled upon the body of one of the guests—the mother of the groom. Was it a natural death? Suicide? Homicide?
A death at an event could mean the end of Angie’s catering business. What will happen to their plans to move out of Angie’s cramped apartment and into a house they can call their own?
Gordon and his officers deal with questioning guests, including a self-centered bride and her new husband who doesn’t seem upset that his mother has died unexpectedly. Or was it unexpected? They’re eager to get off on their honeymoon.
So much for quiet. On top of a homicide investigation, the mayor’s making demands again. The crime lull is over. Angie and Gordon’s house-hunting brings an unpleasant surprise. Then there’s the matter of an unexpected letter from the mayor of Pine Hills, Oregon.
Is it time for Gordon to rethink his career?"
"Someone is playing a game with Mapleton’s Chief of Police … and it’s deadly.
For Mapleton Police Chief Gordon Hepler, life has become predictably boring—despite being a newlywed. Being a husband is great. Dealing with nothing but parking violations, speeders, and the occasional disorderly complaint is monotonous. Gordon wonders if he’s been so busy dealing with “Chief Stuff” that he’s lost his edge as a street cop. Especially when his biggest challenges are handling the penny-pinching mayor and deciding what goes into the station’s vending machines. A few anonymous prank letters are about the only ‘non-normal’ things to hit his desk, and even those pose no apparent threat.
When a tragic car accident kills a friend, Gordon soon learns it was no accident. Determined this is the case meant to pull him out of his workplace rut, Gordon delves into the investigation. He and his colleagues uncover a string of similar murders all across the country over the last 20-odd years. Then, going through a victim’s personal effects, Gordon discovers the same type of anonymous letters that he’s been receiving. Now it’s a race against the clock to find the killer before another victim is chosen.
Or is Gordon the next casualty on the killer’s list?
This 9th book in the Mapleton Mystery series pits Gordon against a cat-and-mouse killer playing a deadly game."
"Three Mapleton Mystery Novellas, a blend of police procedurals and cozy mysteries.
Deadly Places
Life is a balancing act. When you’re a cop, the choices can be deadly.
Ed Solomon, long-time police officer in the small town of Mapleton, Colorado, has been ribbed for thinking there’s a ring of assassins out killing deadbeat dads. He’s convinced these killers exist and they’re doing their dirty work from behind an innocuous-looking travel blog. Proving the ring exists has been a sideline investigation for him, but it’s shoved further onto the back burner when Ed is forced to assume the duties of Chief.
Deadly Engagement
If you’re with a cop, there’s no escaping mystery and crime, even on a Caribbean cruise.
Angie Mead thinks time away from Gordon’s “Cop Stuff” is what he needs to distract him from being suspended as Mapleton’s Chief of Police and get over killing a man. A Caribbean cruise, where Gordon has no jurisdiction, seems the perfect solution—and Angie is looking forward to some fun in the sun.
Communication mishaps and Gordon’s apparent lack of interest in their getaway create second thoughts for Angie. That is, until a series of petty thefts give Gordon a new bone to chew on.
Deadly Assumptions
Will a string of mysterious trespassing incidents give Rookie Officer Ed Solomon his chance at being a big-time detective?
In most places, people breaking into garden and storage sheds might not be a big deal, but in the small town of Mapleton, Colorado, it’s a veritable crime wave, at least according to Chief Dixon. Kids playing pranks? Or something more serious? Could these trespassers have something to do with a much bigger, big-city crime? What starts out as a perfunctory investigation soon escalates. Will Dixon, Arch Hepler, and new rookie Solomon discover the truth before Mapleton sees its first homicide in decades?"
"When life seems too good to be true—watch out.
Mapleton Police Chief Gordon Hepler thinks his troubles with the small-town politics are behind him. The town council has even awarded him a reserved parking place. But an early-morning summons from the new mayor has Gordon on alert. Instead of yet another budget dispute, the mayor announces an independent film company is making a movie in Mapleton.
For the mayor, it means good press for Mapleton—and more importantly—more money for the town coffers. For the citizens, it means rubbing elbows with celebrities. For Gordon, the news means headaches, extra shifts, and scheduling issues. But he’s a pro. He’ll ensure the company has his full cooperation while continuing to protect his town.
When a member of the film crew is found dead, everything goes sideways. The mayor pushes Gordon to adopt a business as usual mentality, and let the film company handle the investigation. But a murder on Mapleton soil makes it Gordon’s jurisdiction, and nothing the mayor says can make him halt his investigation. When other members of the cast and crew haven’t reported in, Gordon wonders if he’s looking for more suspects or more victims.
Will Gordon listen to the mayor, or risk his job to find the truth?"
"Solving a crime is like piecing together a puzzle. But what happens if the pieces don’t fit?
When Police Chief Gordon Hepler’s doctor orders him to cut down on the stress in his life or risk losing his vision, Gordon books a winter retreat at a remote Bed and Breakfast. Hours away from Mapleton, where nobody knows he’s a cop, he plans to relax and try to forget about his eyes.
However, traveling “incognito” doesn’t mean he’s left his cop instincts behind. His curiosity is piqued when one of the other guests at the B&B doesn’t appear to be who she claims. Before he can explore the puzzle she presents, a man shows up, pleading for help. His car’s gone off the road, and his wife is inside.
Although a blizzard is approaching, Gordon can’t refuse the frantic man’s request and agrees to help him search. Fighting the storm, Gordon and the man struggle down a ravine to the car. What they find turns out to be one more puzzle, and it’s not the last Gordon faces.
Are they unrelated coincidences? Or part of one bigger mystery? Or is he seeing a crime where none exists? Well outside his jurisdiction, with his health at stake, Gordon wonders whether he should follow his cop impulses, or remember he’s on vacation and let the locals handle it. When it becomes personal, Gordon has no choice.
Deadly Puzzles, will have readers trying to put the pieces together along with Gordon."
"When there's trouble, he has your back.
For Tim Halloran, Army Ranger turned cowboy, a simple life on a cattle ranch with no strings is his idea of perfection. Maybe he’ll have a ranch of his own someday. Meanwhile, ranching lets him forget his haunting wartime experiences as an army sniper, and being the ranch clown is his coping mechanism. Bad jokes and a love ’em and leave ’em lifestyle make his world turn. But meeting Rebecca Morgan soon has his world spinning in another direction.
To Tim, she’s a mystery. She must have been absent the day she was scheduled to receive her sense of humor, and when she ignores his overtures, Tim is determined to break through her serious exterior. Little does he know, the secrets she’s hiding will turn his life upside down. What will he give up to keep her safe—even if it turns out to be Rebecca?
Rebecca Morgan needs a high-paying job to help cover her five-year-old nephew’s skyrocketing medical expenses. Her farming background left her without marketable job skills, but she’s confident once she completes a culinary school course, she’ll find a job as a private chef for the rich and famous. She’s accepted into a cooking program, one she’s sure will solve her problems. Dismayed when the vocational cooking school is connected to a cattle ranch of all things, but needing her certificate, she’s willing to overlook the location. Then she meets Tim Halloran, one of the cowboys.
A man is the last thing she’s looking for, and an impoverished cowboy is well below the last item on her list. But when her ex comes back into her life, threatening her family, Rebecca will stop at nothing to thwart his plans, even if it means a reluctant partnership with a cowboy—a wisecracking man who seems to be working his way into her heart. Things escalate, and she’s faced with a choice. Will she accept her ex’s demands for her nephew’s sake? Or will she find happiness with a jokester cowhand?"
"She trusts everyone. He trusts no one.
In her job as a Sheriff’s Department Dispatcher, Cecily Cooper sees plenty of people who could use a second chance. She’s created a program to give the less advantaged a fresh start, and thinks her brother’s Colorado cattle ranch will be the perfect spot for her project. Some responsibility and a touch of physical labor will help these people find an alternative to life on the streets.
Bryce Barrett, ex-Army Ranger now turned cowhand on the Triple-D Ranch, prefers animals to people. People have agendas. Animals don’t. It’s one reason he and Cecily are always on-again, off-again in the relationship department.
When seventeen-year-old Grady Fenton is chosen as the first candidate for Cecily’s program, Cecily is thrilled. Bryce not so much, especially when his boss assigns him to be Grady’s mentor. Can Bryce convince Cecily there’s more to Grady than typical teenage angst? Or is he reading more into the boy’s behavior than is really there? When someone is killing cattle across the state, the Triple-D’s herd is no exception. Does Grady have answers? Sparks fly when Bryce and Cecily must put aside their differences long enough to discover what Grady is hiding. Soon things escalate, and it’s not just cattle in danger."
"A dog finding a bone is no big deal—until it turns out to be human.
Mapleton Police Chief Gordon Hepler and the mayor can’t agree about what being a cop means. To Gordon, it’s keeping his citizens safe. To the mayor, it’s generating revenue by issuing speeding and parking tickets.
When two runaway dogs waylay Gordon on the way to what he hopes will be an uneventful afternoon at a backyard barbeque, more than his afternoon is interrupted. As dogs will do, these have uncovered a bone. Trouble is, it turns out to be human. When it leads to the discovery of more human remains, Gordon needs to find out why they’re on the property, when they got there, and who they belonged to. After all, somebody needs to care.
Over the mayor’s objections, Gordon pursues the investigation of the bones along with an unusual outbreak of petty crimes, accidents, and a dispatcher who seems to be losing it. Before long, he’s got more puzzle pieces than he knows what to do with—and no puzzle to fit them into. When people he loves are endangered, no mayoral directive will stop Gordon from saving them.
This second book in the Mapleton Mystery series reunites Gordon with Detective Tyler Colfax, once again faced with cooperating to solve another case."
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