Murder And Needles (Louisiana Murder Mysteries Book 3)

A killer’s weapon is a needle. The motive runs deeper.

Men are turning up dead along the bayous of South Louisiana—each marked by brutal, needle-inflicted torture. Niki Dupre is on the case, but the victims share no obvious connection. Until one tragic misstep reveals a chilling pattern: every man was accused—rightly or wrongly—of abuse.

As Niki digs deeper into the darkness, she’s forced to question everything, including the innocence of those she’s sworn to defend. When her investigative partner, Donna Cross, lands in the crosshairs, the case becomes personal. And the truth is far more twisted than she imagined.

Murder and Needles is the third gripping installment in Jim Riley’s Louisiana Mysteries series—a tense, atmospheric crime thriller that probes justice, vengeance, and the thin line between them.

Get your copy of Murder and Needles and follow Niki Dupre into the heart of a bayou mystery you won’t forget.

Excerpt from the book

Monday

Baton Rouge

Keith Wild glanced at the buxom blonde across the room. She sat alone, sipping on her drink. Not tall. Not short. Nice legs. Big chest. The last trait was his Achilles heel. He fell in love with women with huge knockers. The blonde definitely met his criteria.

He watched a couple of men he knew advance to her table, only to suffer rebuffs. One was married, as was Keith. Nora was Keith's wife and a looker back in high school. She developed long before most teenage girls and was lusted after by every jock on campus. Even the nerds gave her a go.

But Keith was the star quarterback and thus the most sought-after stud. He had his pick of the girls, and he chose Nora. She wasn't overly intelligent, barely scoring double digits on the ACT. She made it through school only with the help of the lusting geeks.

But her personality was akin to a rabid wolverine. When she realized she had the biggest breasts in class, she no longer needed to be polite, and it showed in her relationships. Very few girls wanted to spend time around her except to catch the castoff boys when they were rejected. The boys were there for one reason, actually two.

Nora became pregnant halfway through her senior year. She told Keith he was the father, although there were several possible candidates. Chastity wasn't one of Nora's virtues. Not that she had many to confuse one with. He accepted the claim without question and married her the day after graduation.

His oldest, Jimmy Dale, was born three months after they married. Two other boys followed like a stepladder, a little over a year apart. Nora gained thirty pounds with each birth and never lost a bit of it afterward.

Keith constantly nagged Nora about her weight, wishing she would regain her high school form. She told him just as often that the reason for her obesity was the stress of raising three boys on a limited income. Their house was more similar to a field of battle instead of a loving homestead.

With no college education, Keith started his career as a used car salesman. Eventually, he opened his own car lot, and life looked up. Then every car on the lot sustained flood damage. To his dismay, and to cut costs, Keith carried no insurance on his inventory, which was a disaster.

The day after the flood was the first time he struck Nora. She asked for the fourth time how he could be so stupid to drop the flood insurance, and he belted her across the mouth. She fell to the floor crying, and he left the house.