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Jasper: A Claire Holloway Mystery
What would you do if the person you love wants you dead?
When two hitmen failed to silence Claire Holloway in Los Angeles, she discovered the her husband lives. Now Claire is heading back to Jasper, the town where her pastor husband once preached salvation—and secretly stole millions from his flock.
Returning to a community scarred by betrayal, Claire must discover if she’s chasing ghosts…or being hunted by one.
Everyone believes Saxon Holloway died in disgrace. Everyone except Claire. She heard his voice on a hitman’s phone, plotting new crimes and desperate to reclaim the fortune he hid. And Claire holds the key.
Spurned by the police and the people she thought were her friends, help comes from an unlikely source—one of her husband’s jilted lovers. As each step brings them closer to the man they love, will jealousy lead to betrayal? Or will Saxon steal his treasure from under their noses and vanish like a ghost?
Jasper blends the suspense of Mary Stone thrillers with the intricate plotting of an Agatha Christie mystery in a small town, near-future setting.
Read now with one click!
When two hitmen failed to silence Claire Holloway in Los Angeles, she discovered the her husband lives. Now Claire is heading back to Jasper, the town where her pastor husband once preached salvation—and secretly stole millions from his flock.
Returning to a community scarred by betrayal, Claire must discover if she’s chasing ghosts…or being hunted by one.
Everyone believes Saxon Holloway died in disgrace. Everyone except Claire. She heard his voice on a hitman’s phone, plotting new crimes and desperate to reclaim the fortune he hid. And Claire holds the key.
Spurned by the police and the people she thought were her friends, help comes from an unlikely source—one of her husband’s jilted lovers. As each step brings them closer to the man they love, will jealousy lead to betrayal? Or will Saxon steal his treasure from under their noses and vanish like a ghost?
Jasper blends the suspense of Mary Stone thrillers with the intricate plotting of an Agatha Christie mystery in a small town, near-future setting.
Read now with one click!
276 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 18, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 29, 2026
Looking at the other entries in Ian's apocalyptic series, we can see different genres: Lenny Smalls' trilogy is thriller/action/adventure; Zalerian's is police procedural; and now we have the first book in Claire Holloway's trilogy which is a mystery kinda-sorta in the Agatha Christie, but also kinda cozy.
"Cozy" in the genre sense of Holloway being a woman who is not primarily a detective but a chef of considerable talent. Something about the whole apocalypse thing is less-than-cozy to my mind, but there's a lot about that genre I don't understand.
This is what Ian does best, however: The apocalypse is less front-and-center than in the Los Angeles based series—but that means when it rears its head, it hits by surprise and with a little more resonance. Our characters don't even know the world is ending, and the stories engage us so that we as readers can forget it, for a while, especially here. But every event that has a mob, every event that implies the supernatural—even if the supernatural aspect is explained, and every time we feel the Hand of God moving, we're brought back as readers to our own awareness.
And yet, even if it's true, what does it change? There's no exception to the rules of good and evil, just because the end is nigh!
Apart from that, like his other books, this is just a well-done story. He avoids the pitfalls of mysteries—giving us reasons to doubt our instincts rather than pulling out a last chapter twist for cheap shock value, and the supernatural aura keeps us off-balance and causes us to constantly question motives and explanations.
Claire is likable, and totally out of her depth. I especially liked all the mystery/detective tropes that just somehow get brushed off in your average story, but which pretty routinely land Holloway in jail. Also, this story felt lighter than the other six, which I appreciated, especially after the Zalerian chronicles, 'cause there's a guy who never gets a break. Even when he wins!
Anyway, I'll be reading the next one anon.
"Cozy" in the genre sense of Holloway being a woman who is not primarily a detective but a chef of considerable talent. Something about the whole apocalypse thing is less-than-cozy to my mind, but there's a lot about that genre I don't understand.
This is what Ian does best, however: The apocalypse is less front-and-center than in the Los Angeles based series—but that means when it rears its head, it hits by surprise and with a little more resonance. Our characters don't even know the world is ending, and the stories engage us so that we as readers can forget it, for a while, especially here. But every event that has a mob, every event that implies the supernatural—even if the supernatural aspect is explained, and every time we feel the Hand of God moving, we're brought back as readers to our own awareness.
And yet, even if it's true, what does it change? There's no exception to the rules of good and evil, just because the end is nigh!
Apart from that, like his other books, this is just a well-done story. He avoids the pitfalls of mysteries—giving us reasons to doubt our instincts rather than pulling out a last chapter twist for cheap shock value, and the supernatural aura keeps us off-balance and causes us to constantly question motives and explanations.
Claire is likable, and totally out of her depth. I especially liked all the mystery/detective tropes that just somehow get brushed off in your average story, but which pretty routinely land Holloway in jail. Also, this story felt lighter than the other six, which I appreciated, especially after the Zalerian chronicles, 'cause there's a guy who never gets a break. Even when he wins!
Anyway, I'll be reading the next one anon.
August 29, 2026
Claire is desperate to clear her name and return the money stolen by her husband and returns to the small town of Jasper. Blamed for her husband's crimes, she has few friends and many enemies. Twists and turns bedevil her as she attempts to unwind all the tangled threads, providing the reader with a solid and satisfying mystery.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews