🔥He’s killed before. He’s going to kill again...unless Joe can stop him.🔥

“The girl was named Paige Maxwell. She was a senior in high school, and she was seventeen. Her boyfriend, the missing young man, attended the same high school and had recently turned eighteen. Paige’s parents contacted us on March 14. Jude Lewis’s parents called us the next day. I talked to all four of them and then typed up my interview notes afterwards. They should be available on our department’s server.”

One of the FBI agents looked up from a notepad and leaned forward. He had black hair cut close to his scalp line and acne scars that pockmarked his cheeks. His brown eyes were small for his angular face, while his pointed chin was large for his frame. He kind of looked like a cartoon version of Dracula.

“You said Paige was seventeen and Jude was eighteen. Why are we using the past tense? Are we sure they’re dead?”

My eyes flicked to Agent Lawson before focusing on Dracula once more.

“We’re not positive, but I can’t imagine they’re still alive. They disappeared six weeks ago, and neither has contacted his or her family or friends, neither has used credit cards or tried to access their bank accounts, and neither has shown up yet. We also found Paige’s car in the woods. The backseat had hair, sweat, saliva, and seminal fluids—the kind of stuff you’d expect in a teenager’s car—but someone had cleaned the front seats. You don’t clean and dump a car that deep in the woods without a reason.”

Agent Lawson nodded, but his eyes looked distant.

“Where’s this car now?” he asked.

“The State Highway Patrol has it,” I said. “We’re a small station. They’ve got access to resources we don’t, so we handed it over to them.”

Dracula looked at Lawson. “For the time being, I’d suggest we assume Paige and Jude are still alive. Until we discover this guy’s pattern, we can’t assume he’s killed them already.”

Lawson nodded and looked at me. “Agreed. Go ahead, Detective. After you learned Paige and Jude were missing, what did you do?”

I wanted to tell Dracula I didn’t simply assume Paige and Jude were dead, but this wasn’t an interrogation or a critique. They were there to gather information. We were partners in this case.

At least that’s what I told myself.

👉FROM: The Boys in the Church, the third book in the Joe Court series. 😋

WHAT’S THE JOE COURT SERIES ABOUT?

Joe Court is a young detective in fictional tourist town and county of St Augustine, Missouri. The streets are well-swept, the surroundings are gorgeous, and the people are friendly—except for the murderers, of course. 


Beneath its beautiful exterior, St. Augustine is a county built on poison and lies. Its murder rate is astronomical, its government is corrupt, and drug use is out of control.
Joe’s there to clean the place up. It’s not going to be easy, but she’s exactly the right person or the job. 



The books are gripping, gritty murder mysteries. In each book, Joe Court investigates a crime—usually a murder, but not always—and takes that crime to a thrilling conclusion. I don’t like cliffhangers. The main story is resolved in each book. You’re going to find out what happened to the bad guys in each story. That said, there are side stories that continue from one book to another. A rumor in one book might turn out to be a far bigger deal than anyone anticipated in later books. Because of that, it’s best to read the story in order.