Rick Reed

You can teach the craft, but you must first form the heart. Many preachers want to preach better, but they don't always know how to go about improving, and most books on preaching focus on the mechanics of the craft. But preaching involves more than the steps from a text to a sermon, because every time a preacher stands up to preach, their character shines through -- for better or for worse. In The Heart of the Preacher, Rick Reed focuses on the personal...

Take One Deranged Killer. Add One Determined Cop. You Get One Deadly Obsession. . . From the moment he sees the young woman's body in her hotel bathtub, homicide detective Jack Murphy knows he's looking at a truly demented but brilliantly designed puzzle. She's been drained of blood. Missing her left hand-and the killer left a special message just for him. Hours later, he sees her severed hand arranged on a second victim's body. The newspaper has...

JACK MURPHY DELIVERS JUSTICE Detective Jack Murphy can read a crime scene like a book. When the naked, brutalized corpse of a narcotics cop is found, it's not the body that tells him a sick killer is on the loose, but the monkey figurine-of the "see no evil" kind-shoved down his throat. It's a message, not a clue. Then a high-profile judge is set on fire. Another figurine left behind. Murphy has a guess what's next. But it's not what he expects....

Cop vs. Killer Detective Jack Murphy never met a cold case he couldn't crack. This one's been on ice for 37 years. The prime suspect in a decades-old unsolved murder is about to be named Evansville's next Chief of Police. The Mayor wants the top cop's name cleared-and that's why Murphy and his partner, Liddell Blanchard, are ordered to re-open the investigation. But when the victim's sister and mother are targeted for violence, troubling new questions...

JACK MURPHY WON'T BACK DOWN The headlines scream the ghastly news of an abandoned truck filled with murdered immigrants. Detective Jack Murphy and his partner Liddell Blanchard are on the case. They've got a lone survivor, rumors of a witness, and the feds getting in their way. Jack's gut tells him there's a connection with a local killing-and the bloodshed is far from over. He's going up against a butcher who commits the unspeakable in the name...

Step out for a Saturday night at The Q-the small town gay bar in Appalachia where the locals congregate. Whose secret love is revealed? What long-term relationship comes to a crossroad? What revelations come to light? The DJ mixes a soundtrack to inspire dancing, drinking, singing, and falling in (or out) of love. This pivotal Saturday night at The Q is one its regulars will never forget. Lives irrevocably change. Laugh, shed a tear, and root for...

Gregory seems to have it all: youth, good looks, a beautiful wife, a job he loves as an elementary school teacher, a quiet house on the beach... So why is Gregory so miserable? Why is he unable to control his lingering gaze on his neighbor, Jake, the handsome truck driver who lives just down the way? Why does Gregory spend his private time keeping a secret journal that details fantasies and memories of him locked in embraces with other men? It's summer,...

What if your first love was abducted and presumed dead-but then returned twenty years later? That's the dilemma Cole Weston faces. Now happily married to Tommy D'Amico, he's suddenly thrown into a surreal world when his first love, Rory Schneidmiller, unexpectedly reappears. Rory has no memory of those years. For him, it's as though only a day or two has passed. He still loves Cole with the passion unique to young first love. But Cole has so many...

Mark believes he's meeting Jimmy for the first time in the diner where he works, but he's wrong. Mark has no recollection of their original encounter because the wholesome Jimmy of today couldn't be more different than he was two years ago. Back then, Jimmy sported multiple piercings and facial hair. He was painfully skinny-and a meth addict. The drug transformed him into a lying, conniving thief.Mark doesn't associate the memory of a hookup gone...

On a bright autumn day, Flynn Marlowe lost his best friend, a beagle named Barley, while out on a hike in Seattle's Discovery Park. On a cold winter day, Mac Bowersox found his best friend, a lost, scared, and emaciated beagle, on the streets of Seattle. Two men. One dog. When Flynn and Mac meet by chance in a park the next summer, there's a problem -- who does Barley really belong to? Flynn wants him back, but he can see that Mac rescued him and...