Jazz and the Black Widow — Joel B. Reed

Retired now and still recovering from his last major case, Jazz spends most of his time chasing light and exploring his beloved Arkansas. Then he gets a call from one of his closest friends at the CID. A widow is trying to find her estranged runaway son and the CID has refused to look into the case. Nor has the private investigator the mother hired been able to trace her son. Jazz agrees to talk with the widow and ends up taking the case. The trail is cold. It is four years since Kyle ran away. The last his mother heard, he was living in Tulsa, where he had friends, working as a gardener. So Jazz begins to dig, trying to locate Kyle's friends and find a lead. Even so, Jazz is very clear with the mother. There is very little chance of finding Kyle alive. After four years with no word from him, the odds are he is dead. Then, when he calls on a friend with the Tulsa police, his fears are confirmed. Kyle fits the profile of victims of a serial killer working in the Tulsa area. Even so, Kyle's mother wants Jazz to keep looking. The deeper Jazz digs in Tulsa, the more it seems Kyle was the victim of a sexual predator. Yet none of the bodies of the Tulsa victims match Kyle's DNA. Nor is the mother willing to give up until every lead is exhausted. After hitting a dead end with every line of investigation, Jazz and his partner finally turn to the religious connection. When they do, they begin to discover secrets that will shake the foundations of Tulsa's religious community. These lead them directly to the killer and the case is resolved in a way Jazz never anticipated.