Hazard and Somerset: A Union of Swords

Three months have passed since Emery Hazard and John-Henry Somerset faced a madman and lived to tell about it.Three months have passed since Emery Hazard resigned from his job as a detective.Three months can be too long and too short, all at the same time.On Halloween, a professor at the local college is murdered in his apartment, in front of dozens of witnesses. Then the killer disappears. Somers is assigned the case-and a new partner.While Somers investigates the murder, Hazard struggles to find purpose in his new freedom. Despite his decision to stay away, he finds himself drawn to the case. But he's no longer police, and in the small town of Wahredua, not all of his former colleagues are happy to see him investigating another crime.When the sheriff's son and husband go missing, though, the case becomes more complicated than either Hazard or Somers had expected. And soon they learn that someone else is manipulating events in Wahredua.Someone who is very interested in Emery Hazard. The Rational Faculty is the first book in a follow-up series; read Hazard and Somerset's first adventures in The Hazard and Somerset Mysteries, beginning with Pretty Pretty Boys. A continuation of the Hazard and Somerset Mysteries.

For the first time in a long while, Emery Hazard's life is good. His new business as a private detective is taking off. Things are good at home. He loves his boyfriend, John-Henry Somerset; he loves their daughter. He might even love the new friends they've found. There's only one problem: Somers has been talking about marriage.When a former colleague, Walter Hoffmeister, comes to Hazard and hires him to look into a series of anonymous death threats, Hazard eagerly jumps on the distraction. Hoffmeister might be a jerk, but he's a paying jerk, and Hazard isn't convinced the threats are serious.Until, that is, Hoffmeister is almost gunned down on Hazard's doorstep. As Hazard investigates more deeply, he learns that more than one person in Wahredua has a reason to wish Hoffmeister dead. His search takes him to the Ozark Volunteers, reincarnated as the Bright Lights movement, but it also leads him into a sanctuary of radical Christianity. Meanwhile, an antifa activist has arrived in town, calling for Hoffmeister's death and threatening total war with the Bright Lights.As Hazard continues to look for answers, he becomes a target too-and not just because he's helping Hoffmeister. The Keeper of Bees is still at large, and the killer hasn't lost interest in Emery Hazard. Not yet. Not, Hazard begins to suspect, until the Keeper has taken everything Hazard holds dear. A continuation of the Hazard and Somerset Mysteries.

Emery Hazard is ready for Valentine's Day. He's made reservations months in advance, he's ordered flowers, and he's got a boyfriend he wants to treat right-even if John-Henry Somerset occasionally lets the dishes sit in the sink a little too long. They even have an extra reason to celebrate this year: Somers has received a special commendation for his police work.Everything begins to go wrong, though, when Hazard's ex-boyfriend shows up on their doorstep. Billy claims he just needs help getting away from an abusive partner, but Somers believes Billy has other motives, including designs on Hazard.When men who have been hired to track Billy show up in Wahredua, Hazard agrees to help his ex elude them. But as Hazard prepares to sneak Billy out of town, a woman is murdered behind the local gay bar, and Somers's investigation leads him toward Hazard's ex.As Hazard and Somers find themselves working together to find the killer, they both must confront a hard truth: everything comes at a cost-career success, healthy relationships, and even justice. The only question is if they're willing to pay the price. A continuation of the Hazard and Somerset Mysteries.

Emery Hazard is trying to plan his wedding, even though his fiancé, John-Henry Somerset, isn't exactly making things easy for him. To be fair, Somers has been distracted lately; his father is running for mayor in a hotly contested election, and their hometown is splintering under the weight of divisive politics.In a matter of hours, those poisonous politics invade Hazard's life in a way he couldn't have imagined. Glenn Somerset, Somers's father, shows up on their doorstep, and he wants two things: first, for Hazard to neutralize a blackmail threat; and second, for Somers temporarily to move out of the house he shares with Hazard, part of public relations stunt to win the election. To Hazard's shock, Somers agrees.Determined to lose himself in his work, Hazard takes on a missing person's case, but his investigation only leads him deeper into the tangled web of small-town politics. To find the truth, he must face off with the viciously rich who rule Wahredua-and with the poor, desperate, and marginalized, who fight just as viciously in their own way.When Hazard's investigation uncovers a murder, he is forced to work with Somers to bring the killer to justice, despite their fractured relationship. But the sudden news that Hazard's father is failing fast threatens to put an untimely end to the case-and, in doing so, jeopardize Somers's last-ditch effort to repair his relationship with his own father.The killer, though, has an accelerating timeline, and in a world of wayward children, every relationship is fraught with hidden dangers. A continuation of the Hazard and Somerset Mysteries.

Emery Hazard has pretty much everything under control. He and his fiancé, John-Henry Somerset, are more in love than ever, despite the stress of wedding preparations hanging over them. His business as a private investigator is growing. He's even enjoying time with his growing circle of friends. The only major problem on the horizon is whether or not he and Somers will be dancing at the wedding reception.When Mitchell Martin shows up in his office, though, everything changes. The year before, Mitchell was abducted and tortured by a sadistic killer known only as the Keeper of Bees. Now Mitchell is convinced that the Keeper has come back, and he wants to hire Hazard to protect him.While Hazard works to keep Mitchell safe, Somers must adjust to changes at work. A spate of new hires has disrupted the Wahredua Police Department, and Somers finds himself locked in a struggle to determine how the department will grow and evolve, with long-term consequences that will affect the town for years to come.Then a woman is found murdered, and she has been staged and posed in a way that is eerily similar to the Keeper of Bee's former victims. As Hazard and Somers race to prevent more deaths, Hazard fears they are already too late; the Keeper of Bees has been ahead of them the whole time. A continuation of the Hazard and Somerset Mysteries.