“...an entertaining mix of small-town procedural and domestic drama.”

— Booklist, June 15, 2007

As the snow falls in Diamond Springs, the mood shifts, bringing with it a string of suspicious events. The death of deputy David Matthews has Sheriff Sharyn Howard more determined than ever in her quest to find his killer and solve the murder of her own father, the former sheriff. She knows that her old nemesis, Jack Winter, the former DA turned Senator is somehow involved in both murders and she devises her riskiest plan ever to attempt the impossible: bring Jack Winter to justice.

After a young, single mother is run down on a cold winter morning and the murder is traced back to DA Alan Michaelson, Sharon’s suspicions of Jack heighten and the hunt for Michaelson begins. Upon discovering him dead in his garage, slumped over the wheel of his Humvee with the motor running, Sharon puts her plan in full motion.

Regretfully, she has broken off her relationship with her long-time boyfriend Nick Thomopolis, the county coroner, and instead allies herself with her number one target: Jack Winter. Jack’s arrogance and unstoppable drive as Senator and the need to control everyone around him makes him more difficult to crack than she first assumed.

With everyone, including her Aunt Selma and most of her deputies, disgusted with her new behavior, the people she loves the most begin to question her capabilities and start to lose trust in the town’s most vigilant sheriff. It’s up to Sharyn to maintain her beliefs, trust in her own instincts, and get to the bottom of the mysteries that have cast a pall on Diamond Springs for decades.

In this final installment of the Sharyn Howard Mystery series, Jim and Joyce Lavene, unravel their finest story of Diamond Springs’ incredible sheriff and give her fans the answers they’ve been seeking.

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 their family.

The First Shall Be Last is the twelfth and final book in the Sharyn Howard Mystery series and their seventeenth book for AVALON, including romances written under the pseudonym Joye Ames.

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