The Detective & the Desert Sky
(2026)(The third book in the John Darvelle Mysteries series)
A novel by Michael Craven
A twisting, turning Palm Springs whodunit from two-time Shamus Award finalist Michael Craven.
Available exclusively as an e-book.
The series can be read in any order.
Highly opinionated, ping-pong-playing L.A. P.I. John Darvelle is hired to investigate a murder in ritzy Palm Springs. Ted Lanier, a wealthy man-about-town, has been killed and dumped on the side of the highway.
Everybody suspects one person -- Catherine Lanier, the dead man's second wife and widow. You've heard of people who aren't what they seem? Catherine Lanier tops them all.
But she's not the only suspect. There's Lanier's golf buddies. His work colleagues. And the philosophical and very dangerous stranger lurking at the edges of the story.
It's a suspenseful, irreverent ride amidst the pruned palm trees and cantaloupe-colored mansions.
It's an atmospheric mystery that will keep you guessing till the very, very, very end.
It's Darvelle at his most relentless.
And it all takes place underneath a gorgeous, and deadly, desert sky.
Genre: Mystery
Available exclusively as an e-book.
The series can be read in any order.
Highly opinionated, ping-pong-playing L.A. P.I. John Darvelle is hired to investigate a murder in ritzy Palm Springs. Ted Lanier, a wealthy man-about-town, has been killed and dumped on the side of the highway.
Everybody suspects one person -- Catherine Lanier, the dead man's second wife and widow. You've heard of people who aren't what they seem? Catherine Lanier tops them all.
But she's not the only suspect. There's Lanier's golf buddies. His work colleagues. And the philosophical and very dangerous stranger lurking at the edges of the story.
It's a suspenseful, irreverent ride amidst the pruned palm trees and cantaloupe-colored mansions.
It's an atmospheric mystery that will keep you guessing till the very, very, very end.
It's Darvelle at his most relentless.
And it all takes place underneath a gorgeous, and deadly, desert sky.
Genre: Mystery