Loretta Jackson Books In Order

Publication Order of Kate Jepp Mysteries Books

Publication Order of Luck Of The Draw Western Books

Publication Order of Ardis Cole Books

Publication Order of Pre-Columbian Treasure Books

Publication Order of High Country Mysteries Books

Publication Order of Jeff McQuede Mysteries Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Vickie Britton Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Anthologies

Loretta Jackson and Vickie Britton are two co-authoring sisters that have over 40 novels and over 70 short stories between them. Some of Loretta’s most popular novels include the Ardis Cole series, The Luck of the Draw Series, and the High Country Mystery series among many other freestanding novels. Loretta was born in Magnolia, Arkansas, and is the third of five siblings. Together with her parents, the army family spent most of their time traveling across the country. After graduating from high school, she went to the University of Kansas where she majored in Creative Writing. Given their early history of travel, Loretta and her sister love traveling and have traveled all over the world researching their novels. They have been to exotic locations all over the world such as Peru, China, India, and Russia. Nonetheless, given that most of their novels are Westerns set in the United States, they also do a lot of traveling in the US. Loretta Jackson lives in Junction City Kansas, and earlier in life taught Creative Writing and English at the Sioux Indian Reservation in South Dakota. She is very much interested in Native American culture, and collaborated with the United Sioux tribe Pute Tiyosape, to publish a book about the culture and history of a small Sioux village in Wanblee, South Dakota.

Loretta Jackson comes from a family of writers and together with her sister Vickie Britton, became a writer at a very young age. In fact, Loretta asserts that none of them remembers a time when they did not have a novel or other in progress. Jackson enjoys reading the classic mystery and romance novels though she started out writing Gothic and romantic suspense before shifting to mystery romance. Some of her favorite authors include John Steinbeck for his vivid and terse style, and Tony Hillerman who has some of the best Western settings and most appealing of characters. Prior to becoming a co-author with her sister, she had published three mystery novels. Avalon acquired the rights to their first two novels set in Morocco and Peru. Even as she loves the traditional mystery thriller, she does not pay much attention to genre, as she has written novels in several genres. Apart from the mysteries she has written Westerns, literary stories, horror, and love stories. Her Westerns derive from her love for the old rugged West scenery where she lived and worked. Her most significant moment that shaped her love for the rugged countryside was when she taught high school students at the South Dakota Pine Ridge Reservation. Living so close to the wild lands, she was so much connected to the land of the outlaws, cowboys, and Indians that writing about detective crime mysteries set in the old country has become almost second nature.

The High Country Mystery series of novels is one of Loretta Jackson’s most popular detective mystery novels. The lead character in the series is Sheriff Jeff McQuede, a Wyoming Sheriff that finds inspiration for solving modern-day murders from his namesake in Wild West Wyoming. The series starts with McQuede trying to resolve a robbery that on the surface looks to be black and white but on further investigation is not. Things get even more complicated when he often finds that the most innocent looking people are linked to the weird criminal happenings. Over the course of the novel series, he deals with a series of bizarre thefts of old artefacts and murders with links to the Old West. Taking place in small-town settings, the author carefully builds up concrete stories with suspenseful narration that never gives an indication on who could be the killer. But what makes the novels so great is the background story of the setting. Having lived in the Wild West, Loretta offers an interesting history of Wyoming including different sets of interesting artefacts, and legends that make for a very titillating mystery.

“Murder in Black and White” is the beguiling first novel in the High Country Mystery series of novels introducing Sheriff Jeff McQuede. McQuede suspicions are raised when the Coal County Museum is broken into and only one item is stolen – a black and white yearbook photograph. The photograph had one oddity – the photographer had scribbled under the name Jerome Slade, the words “never graduated”. When an unidentified body is found underneath the recently demolished school building, it becomes apparent to McQuede that Slade was absent on the night of the spring dance, and had not been seen since. It is not long before, Slade learns that there existed an intense rivalry between Slade and his year mates. When he learns that two women Loris Conner his long time romantic interest, and her friend Heather Kenwell had been holding the candle for Slade, his motivation for finding out the truth is replaced by fear. It is not long before a brutal killing follows on the heels of a high profile blackmail and theft. The investigation points to Bruce Fenton, Black Mountain’s most eccentric photographer. McQuede believes that Bruce is painting the murders in black and white and now just has to prove it.

“Whispers of the Stones” is an elaborate novel that follows Sheriff Jeff McQuede who is investigating the brutal murder of Bill Garr. Garr was brutally attacked and murdered at his antique store in a bizarre incident in which only one item was taken from the shop – a rare Pedro Mummy hundreds of year old. The Pedro Mummy had been first found in an ancient prehistoric cave in Wyoming, before it disappeared in 1950. A newly arrived archeologist that goes by the name Dr. Seth Talbot has offered $15000 for anyone who has any information on the whereabouts of the mummy. Seth needs to use to use the ancient artifact to prove the veracity of his theses, that asserts the existence of a race of tiny people he calls the Nimerigar. McQuede is astonished when the mummy appears in the new doctor’s trunk with Talbot swearing that one of his rivals is setting him up so that they may profit from all the work he has conducted. McQuede believes that somebody is using the mummy as a distraction for a bigger crime, and he just needs to find out what the crime is. But the closer to resolving the mystery he comes the deeper he becomes embroiled in an intricate hoax, that not only threatens his career but also his life.