DANCING WITH DAWNA

FBI Special Agent Dawna Shepherd played a supporting role in my international thriller NIGHT ON FIRE.  She so captured my imagination that I've described her later exploits in eleven short stories published in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.  Back issues are available from www.themysteryplace.com.

 

 

 
 

Dubstep”

How is a long-time auto insurance fraudster escaping detection by sophisticated FBI sleuthing software?  Dawna's efforts to answer that question draw her into the nefarious activities of wily Clayton D. Cooper and his criminal family.  Will the good old boy sucker our girl?  Find out in the April 2012 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.

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“Dirty Bop to Blighty”

Tapped to help out with a conference on board the ferry Queen of Scandinavia, Dawna falls into an undercover Homeland Security operation and finds only she can avert disaster at sea. The story appeared in the September 2010 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.

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Silicon Valley Tango”

Why - and how - is an unknown hacker cyber-stalking an obscure software engineer working in the Bay Area? Not a typical problem to face FBI Special Agent Dawna Shepherd who usually goes in for low-tech crime-solving, except that the woman whose life and livelihood are on the line is her little sister Bettijean. The story appeared in the July/August 2009 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.

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Dallas Hoe-Down”

Having discovered that former college cheerleaders and athletes make up big pharma's hottest sales force, Dawna Shepherd poses as a wannabe medical equipment rep in order to track down the company culprit who's gulling staff into using illegal marketing techniques - with highly profitable and near fatal results.  The story appeared in the September 2007 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.

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Mongol Mash”

Dawna contends with Mongolian bureaucrats and mysterious bad guys in her struggle to keep a female athlete fit to play in a championship basketball game in Ulan Bataar.  She needs help - but where will she find it on the Trans-Mongolian Railway?  The story appeared in the March 2006 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.

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Hazmat Heel-and-Toe”

Dawna teams up with a trucker to nail a rogue DOT safety inspector who's been extorting money from drivers hauling hazardous materials through New Jersey. The third member of their team contributes precious little to the effort! The story appeared in the June 2004 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, accompanied by A Conversation with Diana Deverell.

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“Texas Two-Step” - Macavity Award Nominee!

March Madness strikes Texas hard - even harder when the Big Dance is set for San Antonio. With the Final Four happening on her own turf, Dawna  naturally scheduled her leave so she could be there. So she's ready to help out when a former teammate turned coach asks Dawna to investigate a possible betting scandal involving a key woman player. The story appeared in the February 2003 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.

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Boot Scoot” - Macavity Award Nominee!

Dawna is in her native Texas when her vacation is interrupted by a bounty hunter - one dead set on arresting an old family friend. The story appeared in the October 2002 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.

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Hokey Pokey Bucuresti”

She laughed when her fellow FBI agents on the Human Trafficking Task Force asked her to help them run a sting operation out of Bucuresti. Dawna's gutsy but not stupid. How's she supposed to pass herself off in Romania as a potential sex slave? But then again, how can she allow baby-faced cadet Stela Dragomir to face Vlad and the other bad guys all alone? The story appeared in the March 2002 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.

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“Polonaise”

After Budapest, Dawna Shepherd finds herself in Warsaw, bodyguarding a key witness in the trial of a Polish mobster. "Polonaise" appeared in the September 2001 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.

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Hungarian Dance No. 5”

Dawna Shepherd, a former college basketball star turned FBI Agent, made her first appearance in the November 2000 issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.  The story takes place in present-day Budapest on the eve of a new training session at the FBI’s International Law Enforcement Academy.

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Back issues of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine are available from www.themysteryplace.com and subscriptions for your Kindle eReader are available at Amazon.com.