THE GRAND

n his debut novel, Dennis D. Wilson creates a political crime thriller straight from today’s headlines. Chicago cop Dean Wister takes a forced vacation when he is on the brink of a breakdown after the death of his wife. During his summer solstice in Jackson Hole, where he met her years before, he is called in by local police to consult when a notorious Chicago mobster is found dead in the Snake River. What has drawn the hit man west to murder a popular local citizen and pollute the pristine mountain enclave of the rich and famous–is it love, sex, money, or power? Or is it somehow related to the Presidential campaign of Wyoming’s favorite son? Dean’s investigation threatens to uncover the secrets of a group of memorable suspects, ranging from rich tycoons to modern day cowboys, with political consequences reaching far beyond the small resort town. As Dean follows the leads in the case from Jackson Hole to Chicago to Washington D.C., he also struggles to cope with the personal loss that threatens his mental stability, as the nocturnal visits from his deceased wife suppress his will to let her go and make him question his purpose in life. The climactic scenes contain reveals the reader will never see coming. A funny, romantic, sexy, roller coaster thriller: think Elmore Leonard meets Tom Wolfe.

THE GRAND PRIZE

Suspended FBI Task Force Agent Dean Wister just wants to heal his wounds and mourn his dead wife. But he’s enlisted by Wyoming Presidential candidate, Tom McGraw, to conduct a shadow investigation–a hunt for a piece of evidence that will derail McGraw’s candidacy if it’s discovered by the FBI, or the Jackson Hole billionaire who is McGraw’s avowed political enemy. The investigation by Dean–and the sultry new partner, Melinda, McGraw assigns to him–takes them on a chase from Jackson Hole to Chicago, Key West to Las Vegas, and ultimately to Shenzhen, China and an international incident with geo-political stakes.

But will the extortionists who trail them all along the way get to McGraw before Dean can get his hands on the evidence? And just who does the assassin who leaves all those bodies in his wake really have in his sights?

The Grand Prize is a global high-stakes crime story that will grab you by the throat and not let go until its shattering finale.

THE GRAND SEXTET

In the lives of many of us, there can be a person, an event, or a decision that can be pointed to that changed our fate, for better or worse. Four of the tales in THE GRAND SEXTET explore just such experiences with characters who appear in my crime series THE GRAND.

The other two stories are inspired by true events. OLD ACE is the story of an Illinois rural educator, his hunting dog, and the disadvantaged student he attempts to rescue. In TIME TRAVELERS, the narrator’s journey leads him through a re-imagined, time-shifted, and chemically enhanced class reunion.