Twelve years ago, rookie cop Joanna Mason was nearly killed by serial killer Sam Gazade. Now, just as Gazade is about to be executed for his crimes, a copycat emerges, replicating each grizzly murder in excruciating detail. Now a thirtysomething police veteran, Mason has a reputation for making brilliant, instinctive deductions during investigations. However, her skills have been dulled by the cocktail of drugs she's taking as part of her chemotherapy program. Stricken by cancer, Mason must make a choice: either she continues with her treatment and lets her mind become fuzzy, or she stops taking the drugs and tries to track down the copycat killer before more people die. Meanwhile, Sam Gazade sits in a prison cell, awaiting his execution. His long-lost diary seems to have resurfaced, providing a perfect playbook for the copycat. Will Mason risk a visit to see Gazade after so many years? Does an emotionally unstable student have a deadly secret? And is the copycat killer out to honor Gazade... or to disprove his misogynistic views about women's ability to kill? The Dead and the Dying is a dark psychological thriller about a detective whose life is crumbling around her, and who has to make a choice about how she wants to live and die. (Previously published as #1 in the John Mason series.)

"I'm a family man at heart. I love all my families." When thirty badly injured women are found crawling through a rural wilderness, it quickly becomes clear that someone is running a grotesque human farm. But it's not body parts that are being sold. It's whole identities. Meanwhile, in a suburban house, a dangerous man plots his next move. For decades, he's been building a horrific empire based on torture and cruelty. With the police closing in, he realizes he needs to make his final move, but first he has to tidy up the loose ends of his three separate identities. Three families. Three wives. Three children. And they all need to die. Detective Joanna Mason's investigation is complicated by the fact that she's been assigned a new partner who seems determined to trip her up. She's also losing the only friend she ever really had. As the dead bodies begin to pile up, Mason is forced to recognize the fact that this time, her usual methods might not be enough to solve the case.