Book 1
Last Dance
Book 2
One Last Goodbye
Book 3
The Last to Remember
Book 4
Until Our Last Embrace
Book 5
For The Last Time
Book 6
Dreams Don't Last
Book 7
Last Fires Burning
Book 8
Glory's Last Victim
Book 9
Last Rites
Oct. 2004
Book 10
Last One Down
February 2005
Book 11
Before the Last Lap
August 2005
Book 12
The First Shall Be Last
June 2007
All books are available at Avalon Books
Last One Down
Rock Jail (Photo by Joyce and Jim Lavene)
Short Notes...
Reluctantly, Sheriff Sharyn Howard has been forced to attend a training school for the local law enforcement officers. For years she's managed to skirt around it, but now it's time for her to take a helicopter up to Sweet Potato Mountain to attend a rigorous weekend of training at the grounds of an old mining town. The town, long abandoned by miners, is complete with an old jail and hotel.
After attending just a few classes things start to go wrong. An officer goes missing, an while searching for him, one of Sheriff Howard's men falls into an old mine, breaking his leg. Things go from bad to worse when a truck explodes, killing the man inside. To top things off the radio has been broken and there is a ferocious storm brewing.
With the help of Zeke Two-Rivers, nephew of Sharyn's long time friend Jefferson Two-Rivers, they strive to catch the killer and get off the mountain alive, all while Ernie, Nick and the entire Diamond Springs Sheriff's Department desperately attempt to save them.
Book Details:
Thomas Bouregy and Co.
Book 1--Avalon Books
ISBN-0-8034-9698-2
Read more on the story in the excerpt below...
The cover design and illustration of "Last One Down" by Tess Anson
Sheriff Sharyn Howard fact...
Sharyn finally decided to live on her own after her mother's house was damaged in a fire.
Sources...
The Lavenes treat the reader not only to a highly suspenseful mystery, they offer complex and intriguing characters. Sharyn is the epitome of a member of a law enforcement family: the reader learns that her grandfather was the county’s first Sheriff, with her father following in his footsteps until he was mysteriously killed. Sharyn then stepped into her father’s shoes and has weathered some difficult challenges in her role as the first female Sheriff in the state. She is not only a likeable but admirable female lead.
Regan--Fallen Angel Reviews --Five Angels
Excerpt
from "Last One Down"...
Patti Yates stood next to her red ‘69 Mustang with her thumb out. She sighed and pulled up the top of her boots as another car passed by. Her tawny colored hair blew in the breeze generated by the traffic. It was close to one hundred degrees. The black highway pavement drew the heat and threw it back at her. She was only a few miles from Diamond Springs but she didn't like to walk.
She was probably a fool for coming back. She’d gone home to Charleston with the hundred dollars that nice deputy gave her. Why couldn’t all men be that nice? Why did she always pick the losers?
Anyway, Charleston was boring, just like she remembered. She wanted to go to New York or Las Vegas. Her friends told her she was pretty enough to be a model or a showgirl. She just needed the right opportunity.
When she heard from Chavis, she started thinking. He wasn’t a nice guy but he had connections. If she was real sweet to him, he might be willing to help her out. Chavis was smart. He could do anything.
Another car came towards her. She hiked up her already short skirt and smiled for all she was worth as she stuck out her thumb. This time the car stopped. She picked up her purse and her old suitcase, opened the door to the brown Chevy Suburban. “Are you headed towards Diamond Springs?”
The driver, a big man wearing military camouflage and dark sunglasses, smiled at her. “That’s where this road goes, darlin’. Climb in and let’s go.”
