Karen Kijewski books in order

A murderer has struck home-and Kat Colorado is taking it personally. Her cousin Johnny has been found stabbed to death in he parking lot of the Homestead Cafe. 

And now Kat's on the prowl-trailing a killer through a dangerous world of shady real estate shenanigans and teenage hookers. And she's about to uncover a closetful of sordid family secrets almost certain to get an overly inquisitive Kat skinned. 

When Sam, the estranged, deadbeat husband of nationally known advice columnist Charity Collins, ran off to Vegas with $200,000 of their money, Charity turned to Kat Colorado for help. 

Now Sam's twisted trail of glitz and grime is leading the inquisitively lady P.I. through dangerous territory-and into a rats' nest of sleazy deals, heavy-hitting mobsters and contract killings. But Kat's got a job to do and she's not about to walkaway-even though prowling the low life has put her at the top of a syndicate hit list.

A thirty-something California bartender-turned-P.I.--a curious lady with nine lives, nerves of iron. . .and a passion for justice.

A murderer has struck home--and Kat Colorado is taking it personally. Her cousin Johnny has been found stabbed to death in he parking lot of the Homestead Cafe. And now Kat's on the prowl--trailing a killer through a dangerous world of shady real estate shenanigans and teenage hookers. And she's about to uncover a closetful of sordid family secrets almost certain to get an overly inquisitive Kat skinned.

It's hard to tell where the truth ends and the lies begin when Kat is hired to look into the death of a young woman in a historic California gold-country resort town. The police have closed the books on Deidre Durkin's murder; it was a tragic robbery-homicide. But could a clever murderer have created the illusion of a parking-lot theft gone bad? 

 Was Deidre's loving husband as perfect as he seemed? The more Kat finds out about the victim, the less she's convinced that Deidre was the woman she appeared to be. But then Kat, in her undercover role as a bartender, isn't the person she pretends to be, either. And as Kat discovers, in this little town, even life and death are an illusion.

She's a hard-boiled Sacramento P.I. with a soft spot for the unlucky, the unloved, and one special cop named Hank. Her name is Kat Colorado and in her line of business curiosity can be more than an occupational hazard -- it can be murder.

She said her name was Paige Morrell and she came to Kat Colorado hoping to untangle the twisted mystery of her past. She was a twenty-one-year-old "orphan," a poor little rich girl on the verge of inheriting a wealthy old river estate -- and some very nasty surprises. 

But when Kat set out to solve the case, she found herself following a thread of lies, greed and deceit that led straight to the corpse of a key source to Paige's past. Now the Sacramento private eye was about to learn that in the California Delta some family secrets were better left buried . . . because uncovering them could be murder.

It was a matter of principle that prompted Amanda Hudson to blow the whistle on the company that employed her - and manufactured a defective, potentially lethal product. It was a matter of pride that made Amanda hang on to her job with stubborn determination, despite the harassment, anonymous threats, and attacks that terrified her. And, by the time her hot-headed husband hired P.I. Kat Colorado, it was matter of life and death. For Amanda and Jude Hudson. For Kat, who would learn some hard - and deadly - lessons about vengeance, justice, and love.

She's a hard-boiled Sacramento P.I. with a soft spot for the unlucky, the unloved, and one special cop named Hank. Her name is Kat Colorado, and in her business curiosity can be more than an occupational hazard--it can be murder.

Kat Colorado knows the dangers of letting a case get too big a piece of your soul. But some cases don't give you a choice, like the death of twenty-two-year-old Courtney Dillard. Kat found her battered body on a dark Sacramento freeway, an apparent hit-and-run victim. Courtney's mother is convinced her death was no accident, and hires Kat to find the truth. As sweet and good-hearted as she was, Courtney had no shortage of enemies, Kat learns. And they make no secret of their belief in blood vengeance.

Kat's also looking for the truth about her relationship with Hank, who's wrestling with his own soul-eating case. A serial killer is stalking the Vegas Strip, and Hank's investigation is taking him over the line. His obsession could cost him both Kat and his career--while Kat's could cost her her life.

Private eye Kat Colorado hits the road with childhood friend turned country superstar Dakota Jones. Kat recalls that Dakota always did have rotten taste in men, but would any of them be bad enough to bomb the theater where Dakota is playing in Memphis, drop a stage light on her in Atlanta and shoot a singer who looks just like her in Nashville? 

As the two renew their friendship on the road and endure the scary adoration of desperate fans, Kat slogs through a trail of no-account men and boozy dives, hoping to find the perpetrator before Dakota sings her last song.

When Kat Colorado receives a plea for help from a childhood friend she immediately flies out to Nashville. Dakota has been receiving threatening letters, but things are brought to a head, when a look-alike singer is shot dead in the studio where Dakota should have been.

Prominent Sacramento attorney James Randolph suddenly commits suicide while under Kat's surveillance. Stunned by the moving sight and affected by the circumstances of his death, Kat dedicates herself to finding the key to his suicide by unraveling Randolph's past. 

However, Kat soon discovers that Randolph was the victim of a vicious blackmailer and was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. His death has extenuating circumstances with consequences that reach far into the community.

Reporter J. O. Edwards is also interested in the suicide, and when he writes an article about the situation, another victim of the blackmailer comes forward. With a rigorous determination, Kat follows her leads, finesses her contacts, and twists a few arms (only when necessary). This determination pays off as she soon picks up a pattern and begins to see a web of deceit with frightening proportions.

As Kat comes closer to some answers, the blackmailer turns up the heat with brutal physical violence, threatening Kat, her family and friends, and all that she holds dear. But in the typical Kat Colorado fashion, her drive and persistence push her to investigate further. What will be the cost of such bold actions? At what point do you back off?

Kat has seen -- and lived through -- just about everything. But when the unsolved murder of a cop hits too close to home, she suddenly finds herself very vulnerable. Struggling to survive a mind-numbing personal loss, Kat doesn't want to take on a new client. 

Sara Bernard, the abused and frightened wife of another cop, won't let her off the hook, and a reluctant Kat is pulled back to work and into a frenzied and dangerous dance. Things get ugly fast. Kat is almost killed by someone trying to scare her off the Bernard case. Sara survives a murder attempt, which claims a friend's life, and commences a series of mystifying disappearing acts, apparently on the run from her husband. 

But everybody who knows Sacramento cop Jed Bernard claims he's the greatest guy in town, a real straight-shooter. It's clear that somebody's not on the level -- but who? Before she can solve the puzzle, Kat must go undercover at a stylish rehab clinic -- where getting better seems to be the furthest thing from anyone's mind....