Wayne Zurl

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About Wayne Zurl

Wayne Zurl worked for twenty years as a police officer in New York before retiring to the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. For thirteen of those years he served as a section commander superivsing investigators. Prior to his police career, Zurl served in the US Army during the Vietnam war and continued on in the Reserves. Before all that, he worked in the fledgling business of computers--when they were seven feet tall. Somewhat disenchanted with the IBM/data processing business, Zurl decided computers were nothing but a passing fad--something that would never replace humans, and he scrapped reentry into that world after returning from his stint with the Army overseas, and collected unemployment insurance until he was offered the only job somewhat compatable with his military background. In 2006 he began writing police stories. His premier novel, A NEW PROSPECT, won Indie and Eric Hoffer Book Awards for best Mystery and Commercial Fiction respectively. Zurl has also been named as a finalist for a First Horizon Book Award and a Montaigne Medal. He currently has nine novels and twenty-seven novelettes published in the Sam Jenkins mystery series. Many of the novelettes were produced as audio books.

For more infromation about Wayne, visit www.waynezurlbooks.net where you can find a list of available books, photos, other writing available only from the author, special messages, and several recent interviews with the media. Sign up for eMail notifications about new releases or follow Wayne via his Facebook and Twitter links on the web site.

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Titles By Wayne Zurl

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A New Prospect: A Sam Jenkins Mystery Nov 29, 2016

by Wayne Zurl

( 753 )

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Sam Jenkins never thought about being a fish out of water during the years he spent solving crimes in New York. But things change, and after retiring to Tennessee, he gets that feeling. Jenkins becomes a cop again and is thrown headlong into a murder investigation and a steaming kettle of fish, down-home style.

In true Jenkins style, Sam turns common police practice on its ear to insure an innocent man doesn’t fall prey to an imperfect system and the guilty party receives appropriate justice.

Other Formats: Paperback

A Leprechaun's Lament: A Sam Jenkins Mystery Mar 8, 2016

by Wayne Zurl

( 58 )

$5.99

A stipulation of the Patriot Act gives Chief Sam Jenkins an easy job; investigate all the civilians working for the Prospect Police Department. But what looks like a routine chore to the gritty ex-New York detective, turns into a nightmare. Preliminary inquiries reveal that a middle-aged employee didn’t exist prior to 1975.

Murray McGuire spent the second half of his life repairing office equipment for the small city of Prospect, Tennessee, but the police can’t find a trace of the first half.

After uncovering nothing but dead ends during the background investigation and with frustrations running at flood level, Jenkins finds his subject lying face down in a Smoky Mountain creek bed—murdered assassination-style.

By calling in favors from old friends and new acquaintances, the chief uses resources developed during a lifetime in law enforcement to learn the true story of the man everyone called Typewriter Murray.

* SAM JENKINS MYSTERIES are stand alone novels which can be read in any order.

Other Formats: Hardcover , Paperback

Heroes and Lovers (A Sam Jenkins Mystery Book 3) Mar 22, 2016

by Wayne Zurl

( 37 )

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TV reporter Rachel Williamson helps Chief Sam Jenkins with a classic fraud investigation. However, the case puts Rachel in jeopardy, and her abduction by a mentally disturbed man changes her life forever.

Eventually Jenkins uncovers a significant clue and leads a team deep into the Smoky Mountains to rescue his friend. But once Rachel is safely home, they discover her problems are far from over.

Other Formats: Paperback

Honor Among Thieves: A Sam Jenkins Mystery Mar 14, 2017

by Wayne Zurl

( 18 )

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What does a good cop do when his name and phone number is found in the pocket of a dead mobster from his past? Does he cooperate with the Internal Affairs investigator who wants to charge him with murder, but appears to have an ulterior motive?
Does he launch his own investigation into this murder from another jurisdiction to clear his name and find the real killer? Does learning that two former enemies have put a contract on his life complicate matters?

Other Formats: Paperback

A Touch of Morning Calm (A Sam Jenkins Mystery Book 5) Jul 12, 2016

by Wayne Zurl

( 23 )

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Chief Sam Jenkins runs headlong into Tennessee’s faction of Korean organized crime when a mobster tries to shake down two former call girls attempting to establish a legitimate business. Soon, bodies begin piling up—all with a Korean connection—in Sam’s town of Prospect and nearby Knoxville.

Sorting truth from fiction calls for more than Sam and his officers can handle, so he turns to the women in his life for assistance. His wife, Kate, Sergeant Bettye Lambert and TV news anchor, Rachel Williamson contribute significantly in clearing the convoluted homicides.

Other Formats: Paperback

A Can of Worms (A Sam Jenkins Mystery Book 6) Sep 27, 2016

by Wayne Zurl

( 16 )

$4.99

Against his better judgment, Police Chief Sam Jenkins hires Dallas Finchum, nephew of local corrupt politicians.

Now, Finchum is accused of a rape that occurred when he attended college three years earlier.

The young man claims his innocence, but while investigating, Jenkins uncovers corruption in the local sheriff’s department, evidence that detectives mishandled the investigation and the loss of the entire case file. Sam meets one of the most distasteful characters of his career, a PI named Telford Bone, who claims to represent young Finchum. Trouble is, no one knows who hired the man.

False accusations, scandal, and extortion threaten to ruin Jenkins’ reputation and marriage unless he drops the investigation.

Other Formats: Paperback

A Bleak Prospect: A Sam Jenkins Mystery Apr 24, 2018

by Wayne Zurl

( 18 )

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A serial killer is preying on the young prostitutes of east Tennessee and only Sam Jenkins has the information to catch him.

Sam Jenkins joins a combined task force hunting a serial killer called The Riverside Strangler by the local media. Complications arise when the lead investigator, the county sheriff’s chief deputy is arrested and charged with police brutality.

When Sam develops the evidence to arrest the Strangler, everyone should be pleased, but subsequent actions taken by his mayor and the city council affect everyone at the Prospect Police Department and suggest that life there will never be the same.

Other Formats: Paperback

Sins of Eden Dec 11, 2018

by Wayne Zurl

( 14 )

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A routine missing person’s case sends Sam Jenkins and John Gallagher into the world of industrial pollution, environmental activists and profuse ambiguities. Former government agents, the man’s parents and other material witnesses seem to be withholding information and nothing is as it appears. Can the young man’s beautiful friend provide them with enough information to locate her lover before it’s too late? Time is running out as the detectives attempt to locate the lost man on their “peaceful side of the Smokies.”

Other Formats: Paperback

Pigeon River Blues (A Sam Jenkins Mystery Book 4) May 17, 2016

by Wayne Zurl

( 32 )

$4.99

Sam Jenkins thinks no good turn goes unpunished when the famous singer he’s assigned to protect decides it’s hate at first sight.

Famous country and western singer C.J. Profitt receives death threats from a group of rightwing zealots. Chief Sam Jenkins gets the job of keeping C.J. safe while she performs at a charity benefit. Problems arise when C.J. says she’s dead against any police involvement.

Jenkins uses friends and professional colleagues to foil a plot destined to kill not only the local girl turned celebrity, but hundreds of innocent people.

Other Formats: Paperback

Murder in Knoxville: A Collection of Sam Jenkins Mysteries Jul 18, 2017

by Wayne Zurl

( 13 )

$4.99

Sam Jenkins is the new police chief in town and everyone wonders, will Prospect, Tennessee ever be the same?

Here are six novelettes where Jenkins gets to show off his skills learned as a former New York detective.

A LABOR DAY MURDER and A MURDER IN KNOXVILLE take the reader into the world of domestic violence with a smattering of political corruption. In BULLETS OFF-BROADWAY, the investigation leads Sam into the life of a victim who spent his leisure time reenacting the days of the old west and was killed with an antique revolver. The hard-boiled story of SCRAP METAL AND MURDER begins with a simple larceny and quickly escalates into the murder of a building contractor, infidelity and more suspects than you can shake a claw hammer at. And the off-beat stories, BY THE HORNS OF A COW and its sequel SERPENTS & SCOUNDRELS show the more bizarre side of police work as Jenkins looks for a stolen fourteen-foot-tall statue of a dairy cow and ends up among a group of snake handling fundamentalists who use their serpents in a deadly manner.

Other Formats: Paperback

Graceland on Wheels: and more Sam Jenkins Mysteries (Sam Jenkins Mystery Book 11) Nov 20, 2017

by Wayne Zurl

( 5 )

$5.99

A collection of six crime novelettes that take you on a trip through the more off-beat regions of law enforcement.
Follow Prospect, Tennessee’s Police Chief Sam Jenkins as he meets Gypsy conmen and a beautiful fortune teller in GYPSIES, TRAMPS & THIEVES, a gun show hustler and his right-wing militia cronies in HEAVEN’S GATE and a collection of pool hustlers competing for enough prize money they’d kill for in ALVIS IS IN THE BUILDING. A Chinese restaurant owner loses a little finger and feels the grip of vicious thugs from a Malaysian triad in THE SWAN TATTOO. The murder of an Elvis impersonator for a few bits of gold takes you on board GRACELAND ON WHEELS, and in NOTHING FITZ, an unlikely coalition of crooks on a National Guard air base are responsible for a brutal murder.

The Great Smoky Mountain Bank Job: and other Sam Jenkins Mysteries Sep 26, 2017

by Wayne Zurl

( 9 )

$4.99

When your high school classmate shows up on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List, can your police career get any more interesting? Prospect, Tennessee’s police chief Sam Jenkins handles a cold case robbery-homicide as a favor to a beautiful treasury agent and clears the forty-three year old mystery of THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAIN BANK JOB.

In MURDER IN A WISH-BOOK HOUSE, Sam investigates the most grisly killing of his career. Then, in V IS FOR…VITAMIN?, he works with an eighty-four year old partner to solve a suspicious death in a nursing home where all the suspects are well beyond their prime.

Hollywood meets the Smokies in FATE OF A FLOOZY when an academy award winner is murdered during her love affair with a much younger man. And HURRICANE BLOW UP and THE BUTLERS DID IT pits Jenkins against some very lethal characters when he tackles eastern European hoods who intend on causing mayhem in Prospect, and bank robbers who flee to the far corners of southern Appalachia to escape capture.

Other Formats: Paperback

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