While Herbie isn’t around these days, the diner with his name is still in business forty miles south of Sacramento, California. It is a good location if you don’t want to work much during the off season as hardly anybody comes by on that lonely stretch of road. For private detective John Harwood, it is hard to be undercover and part of the back ground when your face has been used on bill boards and you are just about the only other customer in the diner.

That is except for…

For most folks it was a calm Tuesday in Magnolia Parrish in southern Louisiana. For a few others, such as the unlucky folks who worked at the First Gold Bank it has been an hour plus of sheer terror on this mid-August day. A man walked in, robbed the place, and then attempted to leave only to be stopped by the first police officer dispatched to the scene as a result of a teller hitting the silent alarm. The bank robber fired a shot at the officer and missed before retreating back into the…

“I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.”

I don't frequent bars. I'm not a beer drinker. Now, this isn't to say I haven't imbibed and if you ask the right friends, they'll tell you tales of times when I've, uh, well...let's just say I overindulged a bit. However, this brings up an…

Looking for a chance to win a free copy of my latest Grace deHaviland novel?

Here it is. Goodreads ‪#‎Giveaway‬…

Nothing but 5-star reviews for Empty Rooms (the first book in the Krebbs and Robey Casefiles--get in on the ground floor), and praise from giants of thriller writing!

Michael Connelly said, "Empty Rooms is a searing, no-holds barred journey into darkness. Jeffrey J. Mariotte knows the key is character, character, character and has delivered a story about men who relentlessly work the case at the same time the case works them. I was pulled in from the start on this one and it…