Books in series
#1
Kill Game
A Cold Poker Gang Mystery
2014
USA Today bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith takes you into the world of his acclaimed novel Dead Money with a new series about a group of retired Las Vegas Police detectives playing poker and solving cold cases.
Retired Detective Bayard Lott hosts the weekly poker games at his home. The group calls themselves the Cold Poker Gang. And they succeed at closing old cases.
Lott’s very first homicide case as a brand-new detective had gone cold more than twenty years earlier. But retired Reno detective Julia Rogers, new to the Cold Poker Gang, suggests they look at that case again for personal reasons.
From that simple suggestion spins one of the strangest and most complicated murder mystery puzzles the gang has ever seen.
“Dean Wesley Smith does for poker what James Patterson does for serial killers.”
—Sheldon McArthur, former owner of Mysterious Books in Los Angeles
“[An] exhilarating political poker thriller.”
—Harriet Klausner, Genre Go Round Reviews on Dead Money
#2
Cold Call
A Cold Poker Gang Mystery
2015
USA Today bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith returns with a new novel in his popular series about a group of retired Las Vegas Police detectives playing poker and solving cold cases.
When retired detective Bayard Lott offers to help retired detective Julia Rogers search for her lost friend near a remote Idaho lake, they find clues that might lead them directly to the most dangerous serial killer in Las Vegas history.
Set in the rugged mountains of Idaho, this twisted mystery pits the Cold Poker Gang against a master criminal.
“…Dean Wesley Smith draws a royal straight flush by making the hand he deals readers seem possible with this exhilarating political poker thriller…”
—The Midwest Book Review on Dead Money
#3
Calling Dead
A Cold Poker Gang Mystery
2015
The retired Las Vegas detectives in the Cold Poker Gang work hard to solve cold cases. Sometimes, those cases bring back personal nightmares.
Deciding to tackle one of the coldest cold cases in the files, retired detectives Lott, Rogers, and Andor uncover far more than simple murder, and possibly the worst serial killer ever.
A twisted mystery that will keep you reading to the last page.
“…Dean Wesley Smith draws a royal straight flush by making the hand he deals readers seem possible with this exhilarating political poker thriller…”—Midwest Book Review on Dead Money
#4
Bad Beat
A Cold Poker Gang Mystery
2016
The Cold Poker Gang consists of a group of retired Las Vegas Police detectives getting together once a week to play cards and work to solve cold cases.
Retired Detectives Bayard Lott and Julia Rogers stand at an unmarked grave in the desert, about ready to close a thirty-year-old cold case of a missing woman.
But what appears from that grave keeps their case very much open, and shines a light on many other cold cases.
Another twisted mystery that only the Cold Poker Gang can solve.
“…Dean Wesley Smith draws a royal straight flush by making the hand he deals readers seem possible with this exhilarating political poker thriller…”—Midwest Book Review on Dead Money
#5
Dead Hand
A Cold Poker Gang Mystery
2016
More than two hundred couples get married in Las Vegas every day. And some people just go missing right before their planned wedding.
Some show up later. Some are never found.
The Cold Poker Gang decides to look into an old cold case of a woman who went missing right before her wedding. What they dig up shocks the entire city to the core. And exposes the dirty side of an industry beyond the roses and cake and white dresses.
Another twisted mystery from USA Today bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith.
“…Dean Wesley Smith draws a royal straight flush by making the hand he deals readers seem possible with this exhilarating political poker thriller…”—Midwest Book Review on Dead Money
#6
Freezeout
A Cold Poker Gang Mystery
2016
Sandy Hunter kissed her husband goodbye one normal morning on her way to work. She never made it. Last seen walking alone into a Las Vegas hotel room, she never came out and no sign of her remained in that room.
Her missing person’s case went cold for fourteen years until retired Las Vegas detectives Debra Pickett and Sarge Carson, members of the Cold Poker Gang, decided to investigate how a woman could vanish from a locked hotel room without a trace.
Another twisted Cold Poker Gang mystery from the prolific mind of USA Today bestselling writer Dean Wesley Smith. If you love puzzle mystery novels, grab a Cold Poker Gang mystery novel.
“…Dean Wesley Smith draws a royal straight flush by making the hand he deals readers seem possible with this exhilarating political poker thriller…”
—Midwest Book Review on Dead Money
#7
Ace High
2017
1991\. The famous Las Vegas hotel The Landmark scheduled for destruction. A girl's body found in one of the old rooms. Impossible to even tell her identity or what happened to her.
Seventeen years later Cold Poker Gang members Pickett and Sarge take up the girl's long-cold case. And layer by layer they uncover one of the most twisted crimes in the history of the famous sin city.
A crime that still needs to be covered up with even more death.
Ace High wins the award for the most twisted crime novel yet in the series of Cold Poker Gang novels. If you love great mystery books, grab this one.
“…Dean Wesley Smith draws a royal straight flush by making the hand he deals readers seem possible with this exhilarating political poker thriller…”—Midwest Book Review on Dead Money
#8
Burn Card
A Cold Poker Gang Mystery
2017
Retired Las Vegas Detectives Debra Pickett and Sarge Carson think the solution to a very old cold case came easy.
Turns out, a little too easy.
And the deeper they dig into the old case, the more they uncover a very ugly side of humanity. And bodies. More and more bodies.
Another very, very twisted Cold Poker Gang mystery novel.
#9
Heads Up
A Cold Poker Gang Mystery
2019
Retired Las Vegas Detectives Benson Cavanaugh and Bonnie State always worked alone before retiring. But joining the Cold Poker Gang task force push them to work together. Not something they easily want to do.
Searching for clues on a long cold missing person’s case, they explore a shuttered old hotel and casino and find far more than anyone expected.
And that discovery takes them on a twisted journey through the past.
Another very, very twisted Cold Poker Gang mystery novel.
#10
Ring Game
2020
Turns out retired Las Vegas Detectives Benson Cavanaugh and Bonnie State enjoy working together, even after years of working alone. And on their second time to a Cold Poker Gang Task Force meeting, they take home not only an impossible forty-year-old cold case murder to solve, but a family of cats.
Slowly, detail by detail, Bonnie and Cavanaugh piece together what happened to not only their original murder victim, but to other victims over the years.
A twisted mystery of the good in the world colliding with the bad. And, of course, cats. Lots of cats.
#13
Half a Clue
A Cold Poker Gang Short Story
2021
Picket and Sarge, two recently retired Las Vegas Detectives, volunteer their time for the Cold Poker Gang task force that solves cold cases. Plus, they fell in love along the way. Vicki Dix’s disappearance remains at the top of the strange cold cases of all time in Las Vegas, and for Las Vegas that says a lot. Vicki, a well-liked attorney for a major firm, simply walked into her own home and vanished without a trace. Picket and Sarge decide to take one more look at the impossible case. Just one more.
#14
The Remarkable Way She Died
A Cold Poker Gang Short Story
2021
Picket and Sarge, two recently retired Las Vegas Detectives volunteer their time for the Cold Poker Gang task force that solves cold cases. Plus, they fell in love along the way.
Connie Dipkin’s case remains at the top of the strange cold cases of all time in Las Vegas, and for Las Vegas, that says a lot.
She died standing up, in the middle of a sidewalk, with no wounds, nothing medical. And she stood there dead for three hours before someone noticed. A real cold case puzzle for Picket and Sarge.
#15
Bottom Pair
A Cold Poker Gang Mystery
2021
Sandy Goodson in 2002 vanished without a trace.Seventeen years later, retired detectives Isadora Fawn and Hugh Halligan team up, working for the Cold Poker Gang task force, to look into the Goodson missing person’s case.As active detectives years earlier, both individually tried to solve this impossible case without luck. Now, together, they uncover far, far more than they ever imagined.Another very twisted Cold Poker Gang mystery novel.
#17
Under the Skin of Death
A Cold Poker Gang Short Story
2021
Retired Detectives Pickett and Sarge and Robin working on a cold case given to them for the Cold Poker Gang cold case task force must figure out where a mummified body came from in the famous ruins of the Moulin Rouge Hotel and Casino.The Moulin Rouge only stayed open for six months back in 1955, but the impact on race relations in Las Vegas and around the world lasted for decades.Somehow they can’t allow this case to stay cold and impact the history of the important and famous place.
Author
Dean Wesley Smith
Author · 115 books
Pen Names Edward Taft Dee W. Schofield D.W. Smith Sandy Schofield Kathryn Wesley Dean Wesley Smith is the bestselling author of over ninety novels under many names and well over 100 published short stories. He has over eight million copies of his books in print and has books published in nine different countries. He has written many original novels in science fiction, fantasy, mystery, thriller, and romance as well as books for television, movies, games, and comics. He is also known for writing quality work very quickly and has written a large number of novels as a ghost writer or under house names. With Kristine Kathryn Rusch, he is the coauthor of The Tenth Planet trilogy and The 10th Kingdom. The following is a list of novels under the Dean Wesley Smith name, plus a number of pen names that are open knowledge. Many ghost and pen name books are not on this list because he is under contractual obligations not to disclose that he wrote them. Many of Dean’s original novels are also under hidden pen names for marketing reasons. Dean has also written books and comics for all three major comic book companies, Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse, and has done scripts for Hollywood. One movie was actually made. Over his career he has also been an editor and publisher, first at Pulphouse Publishing, then for VB Tech Journal, then for Pocket Books. Currently, he is writing thrillers and mystery novels under another name.
