Monday morning, a young mother disappears after a doctor’s appointment. Monday evening, a young socialite leaves a risqué lounge and never makes it home. Detective Jackson lands both cases, but at first he can’t find signs of foul play. When the socialite turns up dead, his investigation uncovers her dirty secrets, which complicates everything.
The case runs into even bigger trouble with a suspect who hasn’t left his house in a year. Jackson must push all the boundaries to find the connection and answer the question: Where is the other missing woman?
Reviewers say:
“Ms. Sellers has a delightfully twisted mind and the talent to take her unsuspecting readers down trails that fork and bend back and curve and twist until at the end, you have a sense of satisfaction coupled with a pleasant mental exhaustion as your mind wanders back to how you got there… You are gonna love this one.” —Jack Quick, mystery reviewer
“The Detective Jackson mystery series delivers yet again in Thrilled to Death, a truly chilling thriller with tricky plot twists and a surprising endgame.”—Christine Sherk, book reviewer
“L. J. Sellers is a wonderful storyteller…There are plenty of twists and turns… The characters are well-developed and engaging. Readers new to the series can begin with THRILLED TO DEATH and then go back to the other books in the series. It’s a fast read. Perfect for summer reading. The first page will grab the reader’s attention and from there, it’s an exciting read all the way through to the final page.”—OverMyDeadBody
“THRILLED TO DEATH is so well written that I was forced to keep reading until I finished. If you haven’t read any of L.J. Sellers books, you are missing out on a great reading experience.”—Mystery lover, John Bohnert
Social worker Raina Hughes visits the home of a young boy she’s been assigned to monitor and things quickly turn ugly. Later, when she’s found brutally murdered, Detective Jackson thinks it’s an open-and-shut case against the boy’s ex-con father.
Then new evidence points to a rapist who’s becoming more violent with each attack. Raina’s lover, Jamie, knows what the victims have in common, but won’t tell for fear of revealing her own secrets. When Jamie disappears, Jackson must uncover the truth before anyone else dies.
Reviewers say:
“Another top notch outing from the author of THE SEX CLUB. Sellers manages to maintain suspense as well as treating a potentially salacious subject with dignity. Hopefully this series will continue. There is ample material and Sellers´ writing style is superb.”—Jack Quick for Bookbitch.com
“Secrets to Die For is a fascinating mystery that genre fans will relish.”—Midwest Book Review
“This is a well-plotted, suspenseful crime story that will keep readers on a rollercoaster ride.”—OverMyDeadBody.com
“This is the second book for Sellers who debuted with the acclaimed THE SEX CLUB, which also featured brave young women in peril. In both books she shows a facility for creating sympathetic characters — even when those characters turn out to be murderers. Adding even more richness to these sharply detailed, deeply layered books are the real-life social and political threats facing so many women in today’s violent world.”
—Mystery Scene magazine
“I couldn’t put this book down until I reached the shocking ending! While writing a thrilling mystery, Ms Sellers’ explores our attitudes toward some of the social issues we tend to turn a blind eye to.” —Molly Weston, Meritorious Mysteries
Readers say:
“I enjoyed the book immensely! Sellers provides edgy scenes throughout this compelling mystery, then twists the psychodrama even further in a very satisfying ending.”—Susan Whitfield, author of The Logan Hunter mysteries
“L.J. Sellers writes with a fast-paced urgency. I got caught up in the story from page one, then could hardly wait to find out how it all wrapped up.”—Dani Greer, The Blood-Red Pencil
“WOW! Secrets to Die For was fantastic—even better than the first. I was totally swept up and couldn’t put it down!”
— Jackie Hefner, Pacific NW Publishing
“A thriller as dark and stormy as its Pacific Northwest setting.”—Michelle Gagnon, author of Boneyard
“Recommended!”—Spinetingler magazine
A pipe bomb explodes at a birth control clinic, then a young client turns up dead in a dumpster. Kera, the clinic nurse, discovers that the girl’s Bible group is sharing more than the Good News. Confidentiality keeps her from telling the police, so she digs for the truth on her own—becoming the bomber’s new target.
Meanwhile, Detective Jackson races to find the killer, fearing that his own daughter could be next. But his investigation is blocked by power politics at every step. Can Jackson uncover the killer’s shocking identity in time to stop the slaughter?
Reviewers say:
“A thrilling, eye-opening read.”
—Mystery Scene magazine
“A dazzling debut!”
—Aust Crime
“The Sex Club is a great read. A well-crafted story with an unexpected ending. Extremely satisfying.”
— Theresa de Valence, mystery reviewer
“A well-plotted suspenseful tale with a pulse-pounding ending.”
—Midwest Book Review
“L.J. Sellers has written a fine debut mystery novel that explores religious fanaticism and its effects on the lives of various people. The characters are well developed, the plot plausible and well executed with an unexpected twist at the end. I look forward to reading more books by this talented author.” —Lillian Porter, Bloodstained Book Review
“Detective Wade Jackson, of the Eugene, Oregon Police Department, plays a somewhat more prominent role in this newest novel by L. J. Sellers, while his girlfriend, R.N. Kera Kollmorgan, has a lesser one than in Ms. Sellers’ prior book, The Sex Club. They each make terrific protagonists, equally altruistic and idealistic, despite their jobs. Recommended!”—Gloria Feit, mystery reviewer
Readers say:
“LJ Sellers expertly weaves together criminal intrigue, murder mystery, and human drama with biting social and political commentary. The Sex Club has got it all and you won’t be able to put it down until the very last page.”
—Sibyl Shalo, reader
The Sex Club fuses well-crafted storytelling with smart subtext—and keeps you guessing until the end. Sellers rewards her lucky reader with the best of both worlds: good old-fashioned, curl-up-in-a-chair mystery, and grown-up drama that weaves through socio-political themes as provocative as they are compelling.
—Hannah Bontrager (former fiction editor, The Northwest Review)
Authors say:
The Sex Club is suspenseful, thought-provoking and very readable, with likable protagonists and villainous villains
—Carola Dunn (Daisy Dalrymple series)
This article is connected to the video posted below:
Writer goes from newspaper to no job to book deal
Just days after being laid off from her job, L.J. Sellers of Eugene signed a book deal - not for one book, but for three.
This mystery writer said she's now "living a dream" and offers advice to writers who are hoping to be published - and advice to those who have recently lost their jobs.
"Keep at it - don't give up," she said. "That's the best advice I can give. If you love it and enjoy it, just don't give it up."
"At some point I began to move forward with the dual mind, the idea that I may never make this happen and I accepted that on one level. So, I decided I needed a career that was going to make me happy and be satisfying to me if this never happened. So I accepted on one level that I was going to have a great life even if my stories never got published. I didn't put all my eggs in one basket, in other words.
"On the other hand you do have to believe that you're going to make it and keep doing it. There is a joy in writing, and if you do it for the joy then you just have to not obsess if you're going to get published. A lot of writers say it took me x number of years. So, if you love it and it brings you joy just stay with it."
Find out more tonight on KVAL News at 11 p.m.
Long Bio
I was born in Santa Rosa, California—the third of six kids—but I’ve spent most of my life in Oregon. I grew up in Cave Junction, a small town in Southern Oregon. The day I turned 18, I packed my WV bug and moved to Eugene. Five years later, I graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism.
I’ve always loved to write. I was one of those nerdy kids in school who liked to write reports—about Peru, ocean life, pollution, whatever—I loved researching and writing about everything. I also wrote some fiction as a kid and some short stories in college, but never took it seriously then.
After graduating, I moved to Phoenix (needed a dose of sunshine). The country was in recession then too, and I knew people in Eugene with journalism degrees who were flipping burgers, so I had to leave here to find work in my field. My first career position was with Arizona Senior World, and I loved it. My favorite assignments were the people profiles—old people doing amazing things. (I hope to be one of those people in 40 years or so). I’ve also written several profiles for Oregon Quarterly as a freelancer.
My stay in Phoenix was fairly short. I got married and had a baby (neither was my idea), then felt compelled to move back to Eugene where my family was. (They had followed me to Eugene.) My first husband is long gone (hallelujah!), but the boy is still with me here in Eugene.
I married a second time to a man with two small boys (siblings for my son!), and we raised our kids together. (We’ll celebrate our 23rd anniversary this year. ) I never thought I wanted to be a parent, but I always had a houseful of kids and what a joy it was. When my kids were young I waited tables part time and freelanced for local papers part time, so I could be home with them.
One day, I was reading a particularly bad novel and tossed it to the floor, thinking I could write a better story than that. I had never considered writing fiction until that moment, but I felt challenged to see if I could actually do it. On August 7, 1989, I sat down to write my first novel. I used a Commodore computer, and it only took about three months. The story was called Personal Justice, and it was about a woman who tracks down the pedophile who murders her child (Jeffrey Dahmer was in the news then.)
It wasn’t a great story (because it lacked complexity) but I discovered I loved writing novels. You could say I got hooked. I immediately started another. When I finished it, I sent the first three chapters to an agent—Al Zuckerman, president of Writers House. (What audacity!) Three months later he called me and said he couldn’t sell that story but that I had talent and that I should send him an outline of what I was working on then. I was so excited! I remember running outside to tell my husband, shouting “Al Zuckerman just called and said I was good writer!” (He eventually represented me…)
Which is why I never gave up submitting my work, even though it took nearly 20 years to break through. (Lots of agents, novels, screenplays, close calls, and bad publisher experiences along the way.)
Meanwhile, I landed an editorial job at Pharmaceutical Executivemagazine, where I learned more about drugs than I ever thought I would. It was a great job, and I learned to be an editor (as well as a writer). After seven years, they closed the Eugene office. While I looked for a new job, I wrote The Sex Club, the first in the Detective Jackson series. 
I feel very passionately about the subject matter, so it was a story I had to write, even knowing that it might never be published. At the time, I wasn’t sure if the Jackson character would end up being a series, but I made him likable, so I could bring him back if needed.
Then I spent two and a half years with an educational publisher. During that time, my job used up all my mental energy, and I didn’t write any new fiction. I discovered that I’m not completely happy if I’m not writing a new story.
I was laid off again in March of 2008, one of the early casualties of the recession, and decided to make the most of the situation. I expanded my freelancing efforts (which I’d been doing a little of on the side all along) and committed to putting my novel writing first. In the last two years, I wrote three Detective Jackson stories and my latest, Passions of the Dead, will be released in early 2011. I’m currently working on a standalone thriller, but I have a fifth Jackson story outlined and will write it next.
Now I also write part time for our local paper, The Register-Guard, as well as edit fiction manuscripts and pharmaceutical marketing reports. But I write novels first for at least a few hours every day, thus the name of my blog, Write First, Clean Later.
Short Bio
I’m an award-winning journalist, editor, novelist, and occasional standup comic based in Eugene, Oregon. I write the highly praised Detective Wade Jackson series.
Two are in print: The Sex Club and Secrets to Die For.
My third Jackson story, Thrilled to Death, is available for preorder. Passions of the Deadand The Baby Thief, will be released in next year.
When not plotting murders, I enjoy cycling, gardening, reading crime stories, social networking, attending writers/readers conferences, hanging out with my family, and editing fiction manuscripts.
I’m also on:
Facebook
MySpace
CrimeSpace
Goodreads
LibraryThing
Podcast with Ken Lewis, police chief and mystery writer on Netdrag.
Aug. 21: THRILLED TO DEATH released
Aug. 22: Book Launch Party! Territorial Vineyards Wine Tasting Room, 907 W. 3rd Ave., Eugene. Appetizers provided and book giveaways!
Aug. 28: 1 – 4 pm, Barnes & Noble, 1400 Biddle Road, Medford, OR
_______________
Write First, Clean Later - L.J.'s blog
Her website is here.
She's featured here: http://crimespace.ning.com/profile/LJSellers
And here: http://www.thrillerwriters.org/2010/07/thrilled-to
And here: http://www.thrillerwriters.org/2010/03/lj-sellers-
And also here:
http://www.spinetinglermag.com/2010/07/21/review-s
A few pictures from L.J.'s photo album:
Hang on a minute - I missed one of L.J.'s books!
Coming Soon!
Jenna visits a fertility clinic, hoping to be artificially inseminated, but the clinic doctor takes one look at her patient and makes other plans. The doctor and her lover conspire to kidnap Jenna and steal one of her eggs—a simple procedure that the “donor” will no have memory of. Yet from the beginning, things go terribly wrong.
“A powerful, highly recommended, and cautionary tale about the dark side of fertility science.”—Midwest Book Review
“This is an excellent piece of suspense work…a pulse pounding, thrill ride, can’t put down, page-turner of a novel.”—Readersviewpoint.com
Welcome to the board Ms. Sellers!
I missed another of L.J.'s thrillers when I was posting her book links. Here you go:
The Suicide Effect:
When Sula overhears a shocking revelation about a drug being developed by her employer, she’s paralyzed with indecision. She desperately needs her job to gain the judge’s favor in a custody hearing for her son. Yet hundreds of patient lives could be at stake.
Two days later when the drug’s lead scientist disappears, Sula is compelled to search for the incriminating data. But Prolabs’ CEO is a desperate man determined to stop her. Can Sula get the proof and expose the drug’s fatal flaw before the CEO risks everything to silence her?
