CO-ED SLAIN. That's the call that brings St. Louis Police Lieutenant George Hastings to the downtown banks of the Mississippi River, where Reesa Woods has been strangled and dumped. The hard-charging Hastings is no stranger to murder, but he's stuck without any leads until a second body—also strangled—turns up across town and he knows he's chasing a monster.A talented doctor with an otherwise ordinary and enviable life, Raymond Sheffield has some very dark needs. His first victims are targets of opportunity, but his ambitions go far beyond that. He's formed a taste for killing, and his only interest is in getting better at it.As the violence mounts, the line between upstanding citizens and their secret desires gets thinner and thinner in this thrilling game of catch-me-if-you-can from acclaimed crime novelist James Patrick Hunt.

Lieutenant George Hastings, a cool-headed, quick-thinking police detective, leapt to the forefront of the St. Louis Police Department when two beat cops were gunned down, and he led the joint FBI/police taskforce that caught the killer. Now he is back at work with the FBI on a new case: Cordelia Penmark, the daughter of a wealthy businessman, has been kidnapped and her boyfriend callously executed outside of a posh holiday party for his law firm.The murder was clearly a message—the kidnappers are willing to take this as far as they have to—and the target and the ransom demand indicate that the crime is politically motivated. But the investigators are stumped. Wary because of bruised egos on his team and bad blood among members of the young woman’s family, and suspicious of the kidnappers’ intentions, Hastings knows that there’s more than simple politics in play as the kidnappers pull him and the girl’s father into a deadly...

Beth Tanner is a beautiful lady who is used to getting her way. She broadcasts the news at Six and Ten and she doesn't like to share the spotlight. Nor does she care to share her money with those who would attempt to blackmail her.George Hastings is a St. Louis detective who's definitely seen better days. He's been sued by a vicious, acquitted murderer and is in fear of losing his career, his daughter, and his identity. Depression and burnout may overwhelm him and then a friend asks him to look into the suspicious death of hairdresser Johnny Rogers.Johnny was not a nice fellah. A deviant who used and mistreated people dumb enough to consider him a friend. But when it starts to look like Johnny was killed, Hastings digs deeper into the lives of the seedy, beautiful people.

St. Louis Police Lt. George Hastings is loyal to the people under his command. When they're right, he backs them all the way. Sometimes it gets him in trouble. So after a round of butting heads with the top brass, Hastings and his team catch a lousy detail--keeping an eye on Senator Alan Preston, a political star looking to storm the national stage in the upcoming presidential elections. There's only one problem with Preston's plans. It seems that John Reese, a veteran and former CIA agent whom Preston prosecuted while a U.S. Attorney, has escaped from prison and may be looking to settle the score. Preston won't reveal any details. All he'll say is that Reese is a traitor who should've been executed a long time ago. But as Hastings guards the senator, he uncovers a much different story about Reese, one that isn't as cut-and-dried as Preston would like everyone to believe, one that would give a man like Reese plenty of reason to want revenge at any cost.As...

On a busy suburban street at almost nine o'clock on a misty November evening, two beat cops are machine-gunned down in one of the most brutal crimes St. Louis has ever seen. Did Deputy Chris Hummel and Deputy Wade Childers simply pull over the wrong reckless driver, or did someone target these two for a more sinister reason?Lieutenant George Hastings is the primary investigator on the case, along with his detective Bobby Cain, an inexperienced but connected detective who is ambitious and impolitic. Hastings and Cain dissect the lives the two murdered officers, focusing in on Hummel after they learn that he did a year-long stint with narcotics undercover and helped put away one of the biggest meth dealers in the area. But what they uncover is much bigger than one bitter dealer's revenge, and much more personal.With The Betrayers, James Patrick Hunt decisively marks his territory as a crime novelist to rival the best writers on the shelf today.