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Toni Horvath is tired of being an orphan—again. No matter that she’s thirty this time instead of a newborn. She’s alone in the world, except for the needy fiancé she’s stuck with because of a death-bed promise to the only father she’s ever known. Her best friend encourages Toni to ditch Gordon and the ring he offers, but loyalty is a powerful tie. As if life weren’t complicated enough with Gordon’s political ambitions, a letter arrives at Toni’s desk on the anniversary of her adopted father’s death. The handwritten note from a seemingly-repentant felon recalls an off-hand comment Toni made when he passed through Toledo, Ohio’s federal court two years earlier. His carefully printed words, “I can help you find the family you so desperately seek,” set Toni off on a journey to find her family ties. But her naïve quest ensnares her as a mule for a counterfeiting ring. She must decipher not only phony documents but phony family and relationships before the FBI arrests her – or the villain makes good on his threats. Only by calling on connections with ties stronger than family does she have a chance to free herself from the tentacles of history and misplaced loyalties. For readers of Forty & Out (2014) and Burned Bridges (2018): Toni’s adventure introduces us to a younger Jadz who is still a patrol cop. “Pulled a Star Wars” as they say, with Unwelcome Ties as a prequel.

A less violent, but equally skillful, Lisbeth Salander, with an inherited drive for justice…on her own terms With a suspended federal prison sentence looming compliments of an ex-boyfriend’s betrayal, Fatál Wood accepts an almost-legal request by her new boss to hack the Ohio college where she’s rebuilding her life. But she discovers the school’s director is using the network for personal, illegal, reasons, leading to a second betrayal and the death of her best friend. Fatál is framed for the crimes, and she’s caught between rival law enforcement agencies, a suspicious probation officer…and a murderer. She marshals her personal geek squad, twenty-first-century tech savvy, and a too often ignored Romani sixth-sense to protect her newly reunited family and to give justice—and karma—a push.

Someone is targeting Toledo's single women when they turn forty, tucking them into bed and turning birthday greetings into obituaries. Newly-assigned Toledo Homicide Detective Veronica Jadzinski vows to prevent the body count from increasing and to prove her transfer from Narcotics wasn't a fluke-departmental regulations, disparaging lieutenants, and a rigid new partner be damned. Jadz learns to trust a new partner while balancing the unwanted attentions of an almost-ex-husband, a needy widowed mother, and a drama queen sister as the detectives fight to unravel the bizarre murders. When the killer targets Jadz's sister, things get personal. Jadz must heal an old family rift to stop the murders and protect those who really matter.