The Book of Joel

If the past doesn't kill you, the present will.

In The Book of Joel, the third book in the Gabriel's World series, the story is a departure from the focus on Gabriel’s cases—Joel’s life becomes the case for them.

For Joel, his initial success as an artist is shadowed by his need to confront his parents, who threw him out at age 15. Joel finds his mother is anxious to reconnect with him, but his father is still hostile. After discovering Joel's father is involved in a corruption scheme, a shocking turn of events follows that reverses Gabriel and Joel’s roles. As they investigate further, they are pitted against a notorious New Jersey killer for hire. But perhaps more dangerously, they are also stalked by a former police detective--the man who first abused Joel--and who has a twisted endgame in mind.

In this story, the current investigation is intertwined with a continuing excursion into Joel's history, capturing the ordeal of how the past and present can strengthen you--or break you. Joel might be moving past what's haunted him lifelong, or he might be about to fatally collide with evil. The Book of Joel features the necessity of facing the past to overcome it.

The Gabriel’s World series offers strong characters and intense stories of crimes, conspiracies, social issues, and exploration of the extremes and complexity of good and evil. Each story features the same characters (gay NYC private investigator Gabriel Ross and bisexual artist Joel McFadden) in different, but often interrelated cases, and in continuing development of personality and relationships. Each has a stand-alone theme and style, yet each story builds upon the previous story, and lays the groundwork for the next. NOTE: The Book of Joel contains adult content including violence, language, sexual situations, and sexual violence.

The Book of Joel is a 2015 Bisexual Mystery Finalist in the Third Annual Bisexual Book Awards.