A Sharyn Howard Mystery

Things are heating up in Montgomery County, North Carolina. The new police department is having trouble with the local sheriff’s office in Diamond Springs—feuding over jurisdiction and a new murder case.

An old Mercedes with a corpse inside is found by a troop of boy scouts out in the old Union Cemetery. Immediately, Sheriff Sharyn Howard summons her boyfriend Nick and the local Medical Examiner to sum up the crime. It appears that the man was shot twice with two different guns then buried alive trying to climb out of the car. After identifying the body, Sharyn discovers that no one, including the victim’s many girlfriends and wives, have reported him missing, even though he’s been gone for over eight years.

The investigation leads Sharyn and her deputies on a sad path of discovery that will change the lives of more than one person close to her. With the feud between the new police chief, her former opponent in the last sheriff’s election, and her move from the old sheriff’s office Sharyn has her hands full. Discoveries in the old office may lead to a conclusion in the mysterious death of her father, the former sheriff of Diamond Springs, T. Raymond Howard.

To make matters even more complicated, her old nemesis Jack Winter is back and stirring up trouble.

Joyce and Jim Lavene are a married writing team. They are active in local and national writers’ groups where they lecture and give workshops on the craft of writing. They live in North Carolina with theirfamily.

Last Rites is the ninth book in the Sharyn Howard Mystery Series and their fourteenth book for AVALON, including romances written under the pseudonym Joye Ames.

They welcome readers to their websites at:
www.joyceandjimlavene.com and www.sharynhowardmysteries.com.

Avalon Mysteries by Joyce and Jim Lavene:
The Sharyn Howard Mystery Series
THE FIRST SHALL BE LAST
BEFORE THE LAST LAP
LAST ONE DOWN
LAST RITES
GLORY'S LAST VICTIM
LAST FIRES BURNING
DREAMS DON'T LAST
FOR THE LAST TIME
UNTIL OUR LAST EMBRACE
THE LAST TO REMEMBER
ONE LAST GOOD-BYE
LAST DANCE

Avalon Romances by Joye Ames (pseudonym):
MADISON'S MIRACLES
THE DOWAGER DUCHESS
SAVE YOUR HEART FOR ME
IF NOT FOR YOU
A TIME FOR LOVE
ONLY YOU