Jimmy Vega Mystery Books
"Hits the heart, not just the pulse, with people you come to care about. First rate and highly recommended." —Lee Child, Internationally Bestselling Author of the Jack Reacher series “A winner.” —S. J. Rozan Some secrets can’t stay buried . . . A body is discovered in a reservoir north of New York City. The victim is young, female and Hispanic. In her purse, police find a photo of a baby. Where is the child? Is she alive? And what about the disturbing note found at the scene? “ Go back to your country. You don’t belong here. ” Homicide detective Jimmy Vega knows how hard it can be to walk the razor-thin line of acceptance in a place like Lake Holly. Reluctantly turning to Adele Figueroa, a passionate defender of immigrants’ rights, Vega must confront a small town’s darkest secrets and deepest obsessions—before they savagely tear apart the world he’s sworn to defend. “Suspenseful, involving, and memorable.” —Julia Spencer-Fleming "Taut, powerful, finely wrought, and multi-layered . . . the conclusion that left me stunned.” —Maggie Barbieri “Engrossing, engaging, psychologically complex... builds to a shocking conclusion.” — Publishers Weekly “The strong debut of a promising series." — Booklist
"Compulsively readable with an explosive ending." --Hallie Ephron "An unforgettable novel that sets a taut mystery against a compelling exploration of innocence, obligation, and the redeeming power of love."--Sophie Littlefield A split-second decision thrusts Detective Jimmy Vega into the epicenter of a disturbing case when a body is found in the frosty woods near upscale Lake Holly, New York. With tensions in the community at a boiling point, Vega needs the help of his girlfriend, activist Adele Figueroa, to pursue a dangerous murder investigation. But just as Vega learns that Adele herself is harboring a secret, another body is discovered. It's clear no one is safe. No one is talking. And Vega and Adele are about to uncover a terrifying menace that lives deep within the heart of Lake Holly . . . "This is a literary mystery at its finest, captivating, smart, romantic, and impossible to put down." --Jacqueline Sheehan "In Jimmy Vega, Chazin has conjured a realistic character with depth, strengths, and weaknesses the reader can believe and celebrate." --Terry Shames
“A tremendous talent.”—Lee Child In this powerful novel from award-winning author Suzanne Chazin, a tense stand-off between a Hispanic police officer and an undocumented immigrant leads to the shooting death of one, the shattered life of the other, and the shocking connection between them. . . On a clear, moonlit night in December, police detective Jimmy Vega races to the scene of a reported home invasion in an upscale New York community. As Vega arrives, he spots a Hispanic man who fits the description of the armed intruder, running from the victim’s estate. Vega chases him into the woods. When the suspect refuses to surrender—and reaches into his pocket—Vega has only seconds to make a life-or-death decision. What begins as a tragic mistake takes an even darker turn when Vega uncovers disturbing links between the dead man and his own mother’s brutal, unsolved murder. Vega’s need for answers propels him back to his old Bronx neighborhood, where he is viewed as a disgraced cop, not a homegrown hero. It also puts him at odds with his girlfriend, Adele Figueroa, head of a local immigrant center, who must weigh her own doubts about his behavior. When a shocking piece of evidence surfaces, it becomes clear that someone doesn’t want Vega to put all the pieces together—and is willing to do whatever it takes to bury the truth. Only by risking everything will Vega be able to find justice, redemption, and the most elusive goal of all: the ability to forgive himself. A BLOSSOM OF BRIGHT LIGHT “A literary mystery at its finest—captivating, smart, romantic, and impossible to put down.” —Jacqueline Sheehan “A compulsively readable police procedural that builds to the pace of a thriller with an explosive ending.” —Hallie Ephron LAND OF CAREFUL SHADOWS "This is everything a great suspense novel should be. First rate and highly recommended.” —Lee Child “What a wonderful read! Suspenseful, involving, peopled with colorful, engaging characters. . . This fine novel will touch your heart.” —Julia Spencer-Fleming
“A tremendous talent.” —Lee Child The disappearance of a teenage girl in upstate New York sets off a powder keg of accusations, bigotry, and fear—with deadly results—in Suzanne Chazin's stunning new mystery featuring Hispanic police detective Jimmy Vega . . . On a frigid, January night, a blond, blue-eyed high school girl walks out of an English class she tutors for immigrants—and vanishes. Suspicion quickly falls on the men she was teaching, many of whom are undocumented. As disturbing evidence trickles in, news of the incident spreads beyond the scenic town of Lake Holly, New York, unearthing deep-seated fears and enflaming cultural tensions. For county police detective Jimmy Vega, the situation is personal. His girlfriend, Harvard-educated attorney Adele Figueroa, heads the immigrant center where the teen volunteer disappeared. If Vega can't find the girl soon and clear Adele’s clients, the place of refuge may be forced to shut its doors. Still reeling over his own recent career missteps, Vega does his best to run interference between Adele and the local police. But when Vega's boss assigns him a grunt detail working for the new county supervisor, the man’s political ambitions clash with Vega’s deepest convictions. Vega can't imagine a worse turn of events—until he uncovers even darker forces at play. Someone wants to destroy far more than Vega's career. And no matter which way he turns, every step will put him and his family in the killer’s cross-hairs.
A long-buried family secret and a chance encounter with an estranged sibling force police detective Jimmy Vega to confront his deepest fears in this gripping new mystery by award-winning author Suzanne Chazin . . . It's spring in Lake Holly, New York, a time of hope and renewal. But not for immigrants in this picturesque upstate town. Raids and deportations are on the rise, spurring fear throughout the community. Tensions reach the boiling point when the district attorney’s beautiful young bride is found hanging in her flooded basement, an apparent victim of suicide. But is she, wonders Vega? If so, where is her undocumented immigrant maid? Is she a missing witness, afraid to come forward? Or an accessory to murder? Vega gets more help than he bargained for when Immigration and Customs Enforcement sends an investigator to help find—and likely deport—the maid. It’s Vega’s half-sister Michelle, the child who caused his father to leave his mother. Now an ICE agent, Michelle tangles with Vega and his girlfriend, immigrant activist Adele Figueroa. The law is the law, Michelle reminds Vega. And yet, his heart tells him he needs to dig deeper, not just into the case but into his past, to a childhood terror only Michelle can unlock. While Vega searches for the demon from his youth, he discovers one uncomfortably close by, erecting a scheme of monstrous proportions. It’s a race against the clock with lives on the line. And a choice Vega never thought he’d have to make: Obey the law. Or obey his conscience. There’s no margin for error . . .
A sniper attack propels Latinx cop Jimmy Vega on a twisting hunt for a predator who stalks the unforgiving landscape of immigrant America. Probing beyond the hardships of the journey north, award-winning author Suzanne Chazin's taut and timely novel explores the perils that await the hopeful once they reach their destination-and the price they must pay to survive... “Chazin explores that difficult place where cultures collide, with a heart filled with compassion.” – William Kent Krueger on The Fragile Edge Jimmy Vega straddles two worlds--the hardscrabble Bronx where he grew up as the child of a Puerto Rican single mother, and the upscale, mostly white, suburban county where he now serves as a police detective. Yet despite his sense of never belonging, he's a good and decent cop-even if the multi-million-dollar civil suit he's facing says otherwise. His own troubles take a back seat when Vega learns that a court officer has just been shot and killed while transporting a controversial judge across the courthouse lot. Vega quickly surmises that the judge was the real target. She's earned the ire of alt-right hate groups for going soft on undocumented defendants accused of petty crimes. The sole witness to the sniper's identity is a Guatemalan girl traveling by bus from the border. And now, she's vanished-melted into a community fearful of the police. Her days are numbered if Vega can't get to her before the killer does. But as Vega and his girlfriend, Adele Figueroa, head of the local outreach center, probe deeper into the shadowy farm community where immigrants toil in horrifying conditions, they tap into a chilling discovery. One that offers Vega a stark choice: keep quiet and be lauded as a hero, knowing he let the real villain go. Or risk everything for an ugly truth no one wants him to find...