Deepest Secrets
(2026)(The second book in the Detective Morgan Jewell series)
A novel by Tracey S Phillips
A missing informant. A fragile undercover operation. A detective one misstep from losing control.
Detective Morgan Jewell is sent undercover to Pine Bluff, Wisconsin to investigate the disappearance of Jake Verninac—an informant who vanished days before delivering critical evidence. His last known contacts tie him to a local drug network with suspected connections to a larger operation. To get close, Morgan has to earn trust by stepping back into habits she fought hard to break. As she reconstructs Jake’s final movements, the case is anything but stable. Witnesses are unreliable. Evidence is thin. The community closes ranks.
The case stalls and pressure builds. Mandatory psychotherapy forces her to revisit the night her best friend was murdered… and the version of events she’s never fully believed. But Morgan now draws on her unsteady memory to find a nugget of truth.
Back in Pine Bluff, the evidence doesn’t add up. Someone is lying.
Someone is protecting something.
And the truth is closer than it should be.
In this case, the biggest break may already be in front of her—hidden in plain sight.
Genre: Mystery
Detective Morgan Jewell is sent undercover to Pine Bluff, Wisconsin to investigate the disappearance of Jake Verninac—an informant who vanished days before delivering critical evidence. His last known contacts tie him to a local drug network with suspected connections to a larger operation. To get close, Morgan has to earn trust by stepping back into habits she fought hard to break. As she reconstructs Jake’s final movements, the case is anything but stable. Witnesses are unreliable. Evidence is thin. The community closes ranks.
The case stalls and pressure builds. Mandatory psychotherapy forces her to revisit the night her best friend was murdered… and the version of events she’s never fully believed. But Morgan now draws on her unsteady memory to find a nugget of truth.
Back in Pine Bluff, the evidence doesn’t add up. Someone is lying.
Someone is protecting something.
And the truth is closer than it should be.
In this case, the biggest break may already be in front of her—hidden in plain sight.
Genre: Mystery