Deadly Distractions

Deadly Distractions

William Manchee

Mystery & Thrillers / Science Fiction & Fantasy / Suspense

After two tough years practicing law, Stan and his family take a well deserved vacation to Colorado. Unfortunately the vacation is cut short when a client is found standing over the body of a dead IRS agent. It appears to be an open and shut case since Dusty Thomas has had a long feud with the dead agent Bobby Tuttle, and more than enough motive to kill him, yet he claims to be innocent. Stan's new partner Paula Waters convinces Stan to finish his vacation promising to handle Dusty Thomas' arraignment and get an investigation underway. While Stan is away, she makes good on her promise and even manages to arrange financing for Dusty's defense. But Stan is mortified when he reads in the Colorado papers that a radical paramilitary group, the Citizens Defense Alliance or CDA, is doing the funding. Since the CDA denies the legitimacy of the federal income tax and has been a target of federal prosecutors for many years, Stan and Paula immediately come under the close scrutiny of the FBI and the press. To further complicate matters, Stan's best client and close friend, Tex Weller, is reported missing by his wife. When Stan investigates his disappearance he finds a letter that leads him to believe Tex is in Ecuador. While Stan is searching for Tex in Ecuador, Paula continues her investigation of Bobby Tuttle's murder and quickly discovers a long list of enemies with motive to kill him. But her investigation is sidetracked when she learns Stan is missing and may have been kidnaped. As weeks go by and Stan isn't found, she is forced to turn her attention back to the Dusty Thomas case and leave the search for Stan up to the FBI and the local Ecuadorian authorities. Barely able to concentrate, she plods on and day by day and soon becomes convinced that Dusty Thomas is innocent.Review"Manchee serves up a fast, punchy, legal thriller with plenty of twists and an international flavor." -- Carl Brookins, Mystery Historian, author of Inner Passages and A Superior MysteryIn manchee's novel, things are never quite what they seem. Manchee's intimate knowledge of the law shows through every page." -- Daniel J. Hale, Agatha Winner and co-author of Red Card, A Zeke Armstrong Mystery.From the AuthorAlthough Deadly Distractions is pure fiction, it was inspired by actual cases and events that I have witnessed over the years.
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Deadly Defiance

Deadly Defiance

William Manchee

Mystery & Thrillers / Science Fiction & Fantasy / Suspense

The law firm of Turner & Waters has a new associate. Jodie Waters has finally worked her way up from Stan's secretary to become a full fledged attorney. Having great confidence in her abilities, Stan asks her to help him in the investigation of a wrongful death case. A worker in a local sweatshop has died and his family wants the owner, Icaro Melendez to pay for the crime. The problem is the Dallas Police and the FBI have closed out the case for lack of evidence. It seems like a hopeless case, but Stan reluctantly agrees to have Jodie look into it. Jodie, excited to have her first case, boldly launches into an investigation and soon finds herself working undercover as the girlfriend of one of Icaro Melendez' sons.While Jodie and Stan are busy with the Melendez case Paula Waters takes on the defense of a young mother accused of stabbing her husband to death with an ice pick. Paula is ecstactic to get such a high profile case until she finds out her client is broke and this isn't the first time one of Maureen Thompson's husband has been bludgeoned to death with an ice pick. She learns that her client dubbed "the Ice Pick Widow" by the media survived her first murder trial due to a hung jury but wonders if she'll be so lucky this time around.
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Tarizon: Desert Swarm

Tarizon: Desert Swarm

William Manchee

Mystery & Thrillers / Science Fiction & Fantasy / Suspense

What looks like a cathedral suddenly begins to emerge from the sands of the Mojave Desert. Scientist believe it is a natural phenomenon but a local religious leader insists it is a sign from the Lord of the second coming of Christ.Due to a freak auto accident, Jack Carpenter discovers a strange geological formation in the Mojave Desert near Bat Mountain, California. He thinks little about it until he returns out of curiosity and discovers the formation is growing, and doing so at a staggering rate. Fascinated by this, he calls in his friend George Parker, a local geology professor, and together they begin to study the Bat Mountain Formation in earnest.Professor Parker has never seen or heard of a geological formation that is growing nearly six inches a day, so he contacts a friend at the U.S. Park Service to get him to take a look. Eventually word of the bizarre discovery gets out and people flock to see this miracle in the desert, which is beginning to look like a cathedral. Seeing an opportunity to save his failing Church of the Living Desert, Reverend John Little proclaims that the Bat Mountain Formation is, indeed, a cathedral and it is being built by God to herald the second coming of Christ.But before Reverend Little and his flock can get their movement off the ground, the U.S. Army steps in and declares the formation a potential public hazard and possible threat to national security. A series of mysterious deaths and the inability of scientist to explain the phenomenon gives credence to the Army's concern.
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Act Normal, A Stan Turner Mystery Vol 9

Act Normal, A Stan Turner Mystery Vol 9

William Manchee

Mystery & Thrillers / Science Fiction & Fantasy / Suspense

Stan is recruited by the CIA for its ultra top secret Tarizon Repopulation project. His first assignment is to defend a woman accused of murdering her children and alien husband. The alien husband, however, is not from Mexico but Tarizon, a planet in another solar system.Stan is recruited by the CIA for its ultra top secret Tarizon Repopulation project. His first assignment is to defend a woman accused of murdering her children and alien husband. The alien husband, however, is not from Mexico but Tarizon, a planet in another solar system. Stan must not only prove his client innocent but also make sure nobody finds out the government is allowing aliens to live and propagate on Earth. While Stan is busy with his CIA project, Paula is asked to defend the accused in the arson-murder of a prominent scientist and his family. While a bitter feud between neighbors over a barking dog and a chain link fence appears to be the motive for the crime, Paula discovers several others who have benefitted from Chester Brown's death.In the midst of the two murder investigations Stan is lured into a dangerous relationship with an alien woman assigned to keep an eye on him. He soon learns the women of Tarizon are much more dangerous than those on Earth.
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Black Monday

Black Monday

William Manchee

Mystery & Thrillers / Science Fiction & Fantasy / Suspense

Volume Six of the Stan Turner Mysteries features legal sleuths Stan Turner and his partner Paula Waters. It's Black Monday, October 17, 1987, and there are three murders in Dallas that night. The chairman of a failed thrift and his girlfriend are found with their throats slashed and an old lady is found asphyxiated along with her eleven dogs. Paula ends up defending the man accused of the double homicide and Stan discovers he is the executor of this ladies' estate and has to figure out who killed her and the dogs in such a bizarre fashion and why. If that isn't enough, with the stock market crash and the nation's banking system falling into crisis, Stan is asked by the CIA to help an operative unravel an IRS garnishment and ends up caught in a fire-fight between the CIA and the FBI.About the AuthorWilliam Manchee grew up in Ventura, California in the Sixties. After obtaining his BA from UCLA in 1965, he and his family moved to Texas where Manchee attended law school at SMU. He began his legal career in Dallas as a sole practioner in 1976; currently, he practices with his son Jim. Residents of Plano, Texas he and his wife, Janet, have been married for 36 years and raised four children. Inspired by twenty years of true-life experiences as an attorney, Manchee discovered his passion for writing in 1995. Since then he has written ten books, and he plans henceforth to publish a book every year. In addition to the Stan Turner Mysteries, Manchee is the author of the Rich Coleman Novel series, and has written a nonfiction work, YES, WE'RE OPEN, a book designed to help small businesses improve their chances of survival.
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Disillusioned

Disillusioned

William Manchee

Mystery & Thrillers / Science Fiction & Fantasy / Suspense

After being discharged from the United States Marine Corps, Stan ends up in Dallas where he intends to finish law school. In the spring of 1976, while attending SMU, he is recruited into the republican party, elected county chairman, and finds himself helping President Gerald Ford in his campaign against Jimmy Carter. The campaign is marred, however by an untimely FBI investigation into the financial dealings of a major party contributor, Brad Thornton. The investigation unleashes an avalanche of misfortune beginning with the alleged murder-suicide of Stan's friend, Ron Shepard, his wife Cindy and their three children and culminating in the resignation of two republican candidates for the 67th District's state representative seat. Stan, who can't believe his best friend could have murdered his family, launches his own personal investigation to clear Rob's name. When the investigation turns up new evidence that threatens members of a powerful Mexican drug cartel, Stan is kidnaped and taken to a secluded place called "the dump" where he is to be murdered and his body burned to prevent identification.About the AuthorWilliam Manchee is an attorney by trade and practices consumer law in Dallas with his son Jim. Originally from southern California, he lives now in Plano, Texas with his wife Janet. He is the author of the nine volume Stan Turner Mystery series inspired by many actual cases from his past. His other works include Death Pact, Plastic Gods, and a nonfiction book called Yes, We're Open, Defending the Small Business Under Siege which has been published in eight foreign countries as well as the United States.
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Deadly Dining

Deadly Dining

William Manchee

Mystery & Thrillers / Science Fiction & Fantasy / Suspense

This eleventh volume of the Stan Turner Mysteries features legal sleuths Stan Turner and Paula Waters, but including for the fist time, Jodie Marshall, their new associate who has worked her way up from secretary to trial attorney. While Paula works a triple homicide and Jodie defends a good samaritan who accidentally shoots a store owner, Stan backs them up while fighting his own battles.A triple homicide is caught on tape by a professional photographer yet the person or persons responsible and the motive for this grisly crime are a mystery. This is the kind of high-profile murder case that attorney Paula Waters loves but as she tries to unravel the twisted facts a critical witness is murdered and two others disappear. When the trial finally begins and she thinks she has everything figured out, Stan informs her that she has it all wrong! Paula isn’t happy with Stan’s revelations, particularly since he has been of little help to her during the trial. In the past, he has been right there with her from the beginning to the end, but this time, he has been busy helping their new associate Jodie Marshall with her civil defense of an ex-Army MP who thwarted a thief in a jewelry store heist but managed to shoot the store owner in the process. Stan has his own troublesome bankruptcy case too. A Pakistani immigrant has been defrauded of his life savings of $250,000 by a thug preying on fellow countrymen wanting to immigrate to the U.S. Stan puts his client into a chapter 11 reorganization but the thug has little respect for U.S. laws or its judicial system causing Stan’s plan to go awry. Stan’s unexplained absences from the office further exacerbate his shaky relations with Paula, particularly when she discovers he’s apparently having liaisons with a hooker!
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Plastic Gods, A Rich Coleman Novel Vol 2

Plastic Gods, A Rich Coleman Novel Vol 2

William Manchee

Mystery & Thrillers / Science Fiction & Fantasy / Suspense

A ruthless banker orders Matt Coleman's death when the attorney's slick TV ads for his bankruptcy clinic trigger a consumer revolt that threatens the bank.With consumer debt nearing two trillion dollars and seventy million Americans struggling to pay their bills each month, attorney Matt Coleman finds fertile ground for his new Consumer Relief Centers of Texas. As thousands flock into his offices to file bankruptcy, Matt's success begins to take its toll on Houston's MidSouth Bank run by a very powerful and ruthless banker, Franklin P. Hill. At first Hill is content to play some dirty tricks on Matt in an effort to discredit him. But when that doesn't work, Matt is warned one last time to back off his vicious attacks on the lucrative credit card industry or suffer dearly. A timely novel of love, greed, and America's addiction to plastic.
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Second Chair, A Stan Turner Mystery, Vol.4

Second Chair, A Stan Turner Mystery, Vol.4

William Manchee

Mystery & Thrillers / Science Fiction & Fantasy / Suspense

Stan is asked to defend a young college girl charged with murdering her newborn child. Knowing he lacks the experience for such an undertaking, he enlists his former criminal law professor to be "Second Chair." What he doesn't know is the professor, who everyone calls "Snake" is a drunk and a womanizer. When Snake fails to show up for the last few days of trial Stan is devastated.It's 1981 in Dallas and Stan decides to throw a Christmas party at his home as a way of saying thanks to the clients who have sustained him during his first tumultuous year in the practice of law. As Stan's luck would have it, a client is killed in a freak accident and Stan is blamed for his death. While trying to shield himself from the wrath of the grieving widow, he's asked to defend a young woman charged with murdering her newborn child. Since Stan has only been practicing a year, he knows he shouldn't take the case, but his client begs him to do it. Reluctantly, he agrees but enlists the aid of his former criminal law professor at SMU to be "Second Chair." He thinks everything is going to be okay now, but what he doesn't realize is that his professor is a drunk and probably won't show up for trial.
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Tarizon, The Liberator, Tarizon Trilogy Vol 1

Tarizon, The Liberator, Tarizon Trilogy Vol 1

William Manchee

Mystery & Thrillers / Science Fiction & Fantasy / Suspense

A teenager is abducted by aliens when he discovers his father is working with them on an ultra top secret project with the U.S. government.A high school student inadvertently discovers that his father is working on a top secret project with the CIA and aliens from another planet. When the aliens discover this serious security breach they insist on Peter Turner's exile to Tarizon. Meanwhile Tarizon is recovering from a series of super volcanic eruptions that has nearly destroyed all life on the planet. Tarizon is slowly recovering ecologically but the political situation is volatile. Videl Lai has become Chancellor in a tainted election. Once in power, he renounces Tarizon's constitution, The Supreme Mandate, and orders the extermination of all non-human life forms. The Loyalist party, however, has been planning a civil war to restore rule under the Supreme Mandate and stop the genocide. The Loyalist Party, however, is weak and there is little hope it will be able to defeat Videl Lai and his formidable army. The only hope seems to be a prophecy that foretells of the arrival of a Liberator from Earth who would lead a revolt to rid Tarizon of a ruthless dictator. When Videl Lai learns of Peter's imminent arrival and the talk that he might be the Liberator, he vows to have him killed the moment he sets foot on Tarizon.
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Uncommon Thief

Uncommon Thief

William Manchee

Mystery & Thrillers / Science Fiction & Fantasy / Suspense

The first of twenty-one novels by William Manchee inspired by actual events while he was a student at UCLA in the 60's. A naive college student, working part-time as a bank messenger, is seduced by a sexy bank teller and set up to take the fall for a major bank robbery.UCLA student Fred Fuller is pleased with his new part-time job as a messenger for Bank USA. The job pays well, the hours are perfect, and many of the bank tellers he works with are young and pretty. When one of the tellers takes a special interest in Fred he struggles to remain faithful to his college girlfriend, Maria. But this temptation is nothing compared to the dilemma he faces when he discovers a bag full of the bank's money in his company vehicle and realizes he’s been set up to take the fall for a six-million-dollar bank heist. Fred has political ambitions and has worked as a congressional intern in the past. When he is charged with the murder of the bank’s cashier he uses his political connections to obtain legal counsel. His attorney is top notch, an ex-DA who's gone into private practice, but he's expensive and Fred must rely on Maria's fundraising efforts to fund his defense.The case against Fred looks pretty hopeless when Fred's fingerprints are found inside the vault and a witness claims he heard Fred planning to flee the country. Fred's only hope is if his two best friends, Steve and Randy, can track down the real killer and get him to confess to the crime. Unfortunately, nobody knows where Sam Stewart has disappeared and the FBI has given up trying to find him.
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Twice Tempted

Twice Tempted

William Manchee

Mystery & Thrillers / Science Fiction & Fantasy / Suspense

Fred Fuller is a poor but ambitious college student with dreams of a future in politics. He sees himself as being an honest and moral person but when confronted with the chance of a lifetime, not once . . . but twice he discovers the shallowness of his morality. While on his job as a messenger for Bank USA he goes into a deserted bank and is confronted by an open vault filled with millions of dollars. The first time, unprepared to take advantage of the situation, he calls his boss to report it. But when it happens again Fred's moral values are shattered as he takes the money and attempts to flee the country. Twice Tempted, Bill Manchee's first novel, was inspired by actual events that occurred to the author. Sex, greed, and moral ambiguities are the choice ingredients in this thriller set in California in the sixties. A wild ride of an adventure, for both Fred and the readers.
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Undaunted

Undaunted

William Manchee

Mystery & Thrillers / Science Fiction & Fantasy / Suspense

In this first episode Stan is forced into the United States Marine Corps by a vicious twist of fate, must leave his wife, and family and report for duty. On his first day he unwittingly befriends a serial killer and soon finds himself charged with the murder of his drill sergeant. Aided by a lustful nurse who wants him and a journalist who wants his story, Stan desperately searches for the actual killer to prove his innocence.Review"... a fast paced, tightly wound narrative filled with intrigue, deception and circumstance which are not always as they seem." -- Molly Martin Reviews"Undaunted... a serial killer, love murder and the Marines. This is a gripping tale of fate out of control!" -- Joshua Emmons, Rapport MagazineFrom the PublisherUndaunted is the first of the Stan Turner Mystery Series. When Stan is growing up in California in the 60s he goes to the county fair one year and has his fortune told by the new Univac computer. His fortune is rather ominous, indicating a difficult and perilous life awaits him. Yet, the message is clear, despite overwhelming obstacles, Stan will stand resolute against adversity, undaunted.
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Second Chair

Second Chair

William Manchee

Mystery & Thrillers / Science Fiction & Fantasy / Suspense

It's 1981 in Dallas and Stan decides to throw a Christmas party at his home as a way of saying thanks to the clients who have sustained him during his first tumultuous year in the practice of law. As Stan's luck would have it, a client is killed and Stan is blamed for his death. While trying to shield himself from the wrath of the grieving widow, he's asked to defend a young college student charged with murdering her newborn child. Knowing he lacks the experience for such an undertaking, he enlists his former criminal law professor to be "Second Chair." What he doesn't know is the professor, who everyone calls "Snake" is a drunk and a womanizer. When Snake fails to show up for the last few days of trial Stan is devastated.
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