Book 1, Rosslyn Station, finds Detective Kiki Diaz making her way to federal court in Washington, D.C. for the start of a human trafficking trial that she was the lead undercover detective on. Her commute on the D.C. Metro should have been the easiest part of the day until all hell breaks loose at Rosslyn Station - last stop in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Alternating chapters follow Diaz's ten year career in the growing Fairfax County Police Department, leading to a final standoff at the courthouse and a struggle for survival. Available now in eBook, paperback, and Audiobook.
Book - https://amzn.to/4bPWBa
Audio - https://amzn.to/3WcZHE9
In Book 2, Fairfax Station, Detective Sergeant Kiki Diaz is newly assigned to the Robbery - Homicide squad at headquarters when she gets the ticket on the assassination of the Governor of Virginia who was just murdered in his Fairfax Station home. Not only is she facing a growing list of suspects, she must battle the state police who are claiming jurisdiction over the investigation. The problem is, they had a protective detail on the Governor, so all is not as it appears. Available now in eBook, paperback, and soon, Audiobook.
Book - https://amzn.to/3Y5Vuoo
Audio - Coming
This is Book 1, Department Echo, in my flagship CJ Hawk - FBI Thriller series with Zulu Center due to arrive in late 2024 or early 2025. Book 3 Washington Field will follow. Department Echo finds CJ Hawk as the first police officer on the scene when Dr. David Richards is assassinated answering the door to his Old Town, Alexandria townhouse late one night in 1984. Despite the fact his estranged spouse was seeking custody of their children who lived with him, there was little evidence, and the case went cold for years. By 1990 Hawk has joined the FBI and was in command of a SWAT team when a bank robbery takedown went tragically wrong resulting in the death of a fellow agent. He finds himself “removed from the rolls of the Bureau,” and working boring cases as a PI. Hawk is unexpectedly retained by a prominent attorney to solve the murder once and for all, although who the client is remains a mystery.
His investigation spirals in directions Hawk never saw coming. His sometimes girlfriend Kori West married a flawed attorney on the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee. A sketchy K Street lobbying firm with ties to members of Congress and Iranian Intelligence is uncovered. Most challenging, Hawk trips into a rogue Department of Defense (DoD) intelligence office codenamed Department Echo that operates in the Black. Officially, it doesn’t exist - it’s off the books, and then these scenarios collide in a powerful ending that delivers justice for all that deserve it – except maybe Hawk.
Department Echo was inspired by an actual assassination of a prominent doctor in Old Town Alexandria in 1984, and many of the scenes and action come from the author’s experience during his more than thirty year career in law enforcement. Now available in eBook, paperback and soon, Audiobook.
Book - https://amzn.to/3Y6aouH
Audio - Coming
RECOMMENDATIONS:
In my regular Substack column (https://fxregan.substack.com ) I usually end with a nod to what I'm reading, listening to, and watching. I'll post some of those recommendations here as well. I may earn a commission when you buy products through the links on my site, however, I will never recommend something I have not bought and read, viewed, or listened to myself.
In the wake of the July 13th assassination attempt against former President Trump, I started this audiobook version of Carol Leonnig's 2020 book about the then failures at the Secret Service. I'm just getting started but so far it's a compelling listen.
This is the seventh book in the Jack Carr Terminal List series and it's maybe the best one of all. I've got the special edition "shot through" version as well as the audiobook and the eBook. Kindle and Audible make it easy to pick up from where you left off on either device. This is a great way to consume long books, and this one clocks in at 562 pages.
This one is in the cue in my Audible app although I haven't started it yet. If you saw my recent Substack article, I discussed my short career in the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service between my time in the police department and the FBI. The two protagonist in this story are DSS agents doing the same job I did for a few years, so I'm anxious to dig in. The first audio book in the series, Armored, was excellent.
I've noted on Substack that the 1990s were the heydays for police drama on T.V. and NYPD Blue was among the best of several shows. I've also noted that when this show aired for 12 seasons, it was the busiest time of my life working and raising kids and frankly, I didn't watch much television. I still don't have a ton of free time, but I have more, so I'm working my way through this series. As you can imagine, many folks in law enforcment are not easily impressed with cop shows. This one is good - it's not about shootouts, it's about the cops. Joseph Wambaugh, the godfather of the police procedural, once said, "it's not about what the cops do to the street, it's what the streets do to the cops." NYPD Blue certainly embodies that.