Winston Radhauser Series

Tucson, Arizona – Eighteen-year-old Matt Garrison is harboring two terrible secrets: his involvement in the drowning death of his 12-year-old cousin, and a night of drunken sex with his best friend’s mother, Crystal, whom he finds dead in a bathtub of blood. Guilt forces Matt to act on impulse and hide his involvement with Crystal. Detective Winston Radhauser knows Matt is hiding something. But as the investigation progresses, Radhauser’s attention is focused on Matt’s father. Matt’s world closes in when his father is arrested for Crystal’s murder, and Travis breaks off their friendship. Despite his father’s guilty plea, Matt knows his dad is innocent and only trying to protect his son. Devastated and bent on self-destruction, Matt heads for the lake where his cousin died—the only place he believes can truly free him. Are some secrets better left buried?

The past always finds us. When Detective Winston Radhauser is awakened by a call from dispatch at 12:45a.m., it can mean only one thing—something terrible awaits him. He races to the Pine Street. In the kitchen, Caleb Bryce, nearly deaf from a childhood accident, is frantically giving CPR to 19-month-old Skyler Sterling. Less than an hour later, Skyler is dead. The ME calls it a murder and the entire town of Ashland, Oregon is outraged. Someone must be held accountable. The police captain is under a lot of pressure and anxious to make an arrest. Despite Radhauser’s doubts about Bryce’s guilt, he is arrested and charged with first degree murder. Neither Radhauser nor Bryce’s young public defender believe he is guilty. Winston Radhauser will fight for justice, even if it means losing his job.

On a bench at the edge of the Lithia Park playground, someone is stalking two-year-old Emily Michaelson as she plays with her eighteen-year old half sister, Brandy. The child’s laughter curves through the sunlight, as if on wings. The stalker is more enamored than ever, but aware of Brandy’s vigilance with Emily, knows a kidnapping won’t be easy. Planning to gain Emily’s trust, the stalker gives her a necklace—little girls love pretty things. A few days later, Brandy and Emily arrive at the park for the Children's Health Fair. When the stalker sees them enter the public restroom, the opportunity is seized. Not long after Emily's disappearance, Detective Radhauser finds her rainbow-colored sneakers in Ashland Creek, their laces tied together in double knots. Brandy’s father and stepmother blame her for Emily’s disappearance. Radhauser feels sorry for Brandy, but insists she stay out of the investigation. Brandy can’t do that. She is obsessed with finding out who took her little sister, and why. Will Emily be found in time?

Something evil has taken root in Ashland, Oregon. And with it, an uneasy feeling sweeps down on Detective Winston Radhauser. If someone doesn’t intervene, that evil will continue to multiply until the unthinkable happens. While on vacation with his wife and their newborn son, Detective Radhauser receives a call from Captain Murphy—a high school kid has been branded with a homophobic slur and is hospitalized in Ashland, a small town known for, and proud of, its diversity. And this is only the beginning. White supremacy, homophobia and racism are one thing. But murder is something else. Radhauser will do whatever it takes to find the perpetrators and restore his town’s sense of safety. With such hostile opposition, can he succeed, and will justice be done?

Five days after a tragic fall kills her 10-year-old son, Blair Bradshaw, an actress with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, is found dead. Her husband, Franklin Bradshaw, an esteemed criminal defense attorney, discovers her body. It is carefully displayed under her son's tree house, among the flowers and other memorabilia left at the site of his death. Franklin insists her death is a suicide brought on by the loss of their son. But Detective Radhauser finds evidence at the scene—bloody shoe prints on one of the rocks in the nearby creek, the careful way the body is arranged, and the fact that no weapon is found near her body—leads him to believe otherwise. Was it grief that killed her? Or was it murder?

When Parker Collins, a gifted writing student at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, fails to show up for the first day of fall classes, his frantic girlfriend, Rishima Reynolds, files a missing person’s report. Though Parker has a history of alcohol abuse, disorderly conduct, and truancy, she insists he is committed to his writing classes, and is adamant something is very wrong. Persuaded by the depth of her conviction, Radhauser drives up to a cabin at Sunset Lake where Parker spent the last month finishing a novel. It’s a manuscript his mentor, Professor Madison Hollingsworth, claims is brilliant. The Hollingsworth cabin has been trashed—the padlock on the liquor cabinet cut and empty bottles are strewn around the kitchen. It appears Parker has gone on a binge and disappeared with the Hollingsworth boat. Radhauser knows appearances are often deceiving. He returns to Ashland, hoping Parker is out on the lake and nursing a gigantic headache. But something about the cabin scene nags at Radhauser and won’t let him go. The following morning, 72-year-old Homer "Sully" Sullivan, one of the lake's few year-round residents, finds a bloated body floating face-down near his cottage. He phones Radhauser, terrified it could be Parker Collins—the boy Sully befriended and has come to love. Will this missing person’s case become a murder investigation?

If Detective Winston Radhauser knew how many skeletons visiting his dying uncle would unearth, he might have stayed in Ashland. But he might never have learned the truth about his past. During a deathbed confession, Winston Radhauser learns his parents are still alive and his mother is in a psychiatric facility having confessed to the murder of his three-month-old sister. After her confession, his mother stopped talking and hasn’t uttered a word in forty-three years. Torn between grief for his uncle and anger at the lies he’s been told, Radhauser sets out to discover the truth about his family. As he conducts his own investigation and uncovers more evidence, Radhauser realizes the police took the easy way out by blaming his mother. He is convinced she is innocent. During his investigation, he unveils one more dark secret. Will this one lead him to the person who murdered his three-month-old sister, and vindicate his mother?

The idyllic town of Ashland is nestled in the foothills of Siskiyou Mountains. Locals often describe it as a little bit of England set down in Southern Oregon. Yet amidst the historic craftsman bungalows, the world-renown Shakespeare theaters, and the lush, manicured gardens in Lithia Park, something evil lurks. While walking his pet raccoon, 72-year-old Homer Sullivan spots something shiny sparkling in the leaves near Ashland Creek. Thinking it might be something valuable, he hurries over to retrieve it, hoping he’ll become someone’s hero. He panics when he discovers it's a diamond ring and it's attached to a severed hand. He must find Detective Radhauser and fast. Winston Radhauser has always searched for the truth. Set just eight months post 9-11, a young Islamic family is terrorized, and the severed hand is only the beginning. This time, Radhauser is tested to his limits, but will the truth devastate him?

When Detective Winston Radhauser receives a frantic call, ‘shots fired at Mountain View High School’, he and his partner are on the scene in less than four minutes. Chaos greets them. Screaming students run in every direction. Some hide behind bushes. One boy has fallen into the memorial fountain, his arm bleeding so profusely it turns the water red. Others lie on the ground, blood seeping into the concrete in dark pools. Procedure demands first responders wait for SWAT to clear the building, but Radhauser enters, fearing more injuries and loss of life. In the band room, two students, one dead, the other barely breathing, lie in front of the shattered windows. In Practice Room #4, another boy and girl are dead. Sprays of blood splatter the cinderblock walls and shell casings litter the floor. Radhauser kneels beside the girl’s body. A cell phone, with a hot pink Hello Kitty cover, peeks from the pocket of her blood-stained hoodie. In her childlike right hand, nails chewed and painted an innocent shade of glittery pink, she holds a Glock 9mm semi-automatic handgun, her fingers still curl around it. It’s easy to believe fifteen-year-old Kristina Sterling is the shooter. Everyone does. Everyone except Detective Radhauser.

When the murder of a fourteen-year-old homeless boy rocks the small town of Ashland, Oregon, Detective Winston Radhauser is desperate to make an arrest. The boy, Tadeas Phan, is found on a bench near the pond in Lithia Park, stabbed through the heart. One week earlier, another victim, also stabbed, was found in the Shakespeare theater courtyard. Both had empty Starbucks coffee cups beside them. The press has already dubbed them the Starbucks murders. Maxine McBride, Radhauser’s partner, discovers a homeless man, crouching behind the park restroom. His clothing is blood soaked and he clutches a knife in his hand. She is convinced the man, Michael Cornelius, is the Starbucks killer. Cornelius, known as Corndog, is a former police officer, a Vietnam vet who suffers from PTSD. He is a hero, having received both a purple heart and a bronze star for his service. The evidence against Corndog is daunting, but no matter how hard Radhauser tries to make the pieces fit, he can’t find a motive for the killings. His boss, pressured by the mayor, wants the case closed and insists Corndog be arrested. The case is officially closed, but Radhauser can’t let it go. He risks everything, even his job, to investigate further. The closer he gets to the truth, the harder it is to believe. Will he find the real killer, free Corndog, and reunite him with the family he left behind?

When fifteen-year-old Shannon Hoffman goes missing, Detective Winston Radhauser conducts a frantic search of Ashland and its surrounding areas. He knows kidnapping victims rarely survive beyond the first forty-eight hours, and the clock is ticking. None of her friends have seen her since cheerleading practice. Local volunteers post flyers, search parks, wooded areas and canvas door-to-door along the route Shannon would have taken home. Videos from school and neighborhood security cameras show nothing. They notify airline terminals, train and bus stations, but no one saw a girl matching her description leave Ashland. During his investigation, Radhauser’s learns Shannon’s neighbor and lifelong friend, a boy named Rich Gasser, died less than two weeks before her disappearance. Rich had stood in front of a moving freight train. His death shocked the small community and devastated Shannon. Could she have run away? Was she depressed enough to join Rich? The medical examiner determined the boy’s death a suicide, but Rich’s parents know there is more to it. They believe Carson Summers, an older high school student, bullied their son to death. According to her girlfriends, Shannon and Carson were an item until she discovered how cruel his bullying of Rich had become. Witnesses to their altercation claim Carson took the breakup badly and threatened to get even with Shannon. He is convinced there is a link between Rich’s alleged suicide and Shannon’s disappearance. Will Detective Radhauser find that link before it’s too late to save Shannon? The deeper Radhauser digs, the more secrets he uncovers.

When Detective Winston Radhauser’s phone rings in the middle of the night, he knows something terrible has happened. On this night, a homeless man, rummaging for food in a local dumpster, finds the body of a severely beaten young woman. On scene, Radhauser estimates the victim to be in her early twenties. He's overcome when he learns the forensics reveal she is the girl whose disappearance has haunted him for three years—Ava Cartwright. In broad daylight, Ava's bicycle had been found parked with the kickstand down near a wooded area. Search parties inched their way through every portion of those woods, the neighborhood, nearby Lithia Park, and along miles of railroad tracks, but there was no sign of the little girl. Where has she been all this time? And why was she dumped on the eve of her thirteenth birthday? There must be something, some tiny detail, he missed that will give him a lead. This time, Radhauser won’t quit until he finds it.

When an infant's skull is revealed during a groundbreaking for the new homeless shelter behind Harrison Mortuary, Detective Winston Radhauser immediately opens an investigation. While cordoning the scene, Radhauser spots a giant of a man standing at the back of the gathering crowd. He's crying. The two of them lock gazes for an instant before the big man scurries away. Radhauser turns to Sister Anne Monique, a long-time resident of Ashland who knows the history of the mortuary better than anyone. When she's told about the discovery, she seems almost frightened. She tells Radhauser The Stillwater Home for Unwed Mothers preceded the mortuary and housed pregnant women, most of them teens. Dr. Stillwater sold the property in 1973. When asked about the man at the groundbreaking, the sister says Roosevelt Levingston had been the home's caretaker. Medical Examiner Steven Heron and his forensic team excavate the site. The remains of more than twenty infants are discovered. Forensic anthropologists estimate the bones are thirty to fifty years old. Cause of death is unknown. What went on at the Stillwater? What caused the death of so many newborns? Who buried these children? Radhauser won't stop until he has the answers.