Savannah Martin Mysteries

“I have loved this series since book one and have enjoyed being along for the ride as Savannah has grown from the princess on the hill who tried to live up to her mother’s outdated expectations into a strong woman who stands up for her own beliefs and the man she loves. Jenna Bennett has tackled a sensitive subject with honesty, Southern charm, and laugh out loud humor. And the series keeps getting better. I can’t wait for the next one.”  Amazon Reviewer Karli 

 

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Savannah Martin has always been a good girl, doing what was expected and fully expecting life to fall into place in its turn. But when her perfect husband turns out to be a lying, cheating slimeball – and bad in bed to boot – Savannah kicks the jerk to the curb and embarks on life on her own terms. With a new apartment, a new career, and a brand new outlook on life, she’s all set to take the world by storm. If only the world would stop throwing her curveballs…

 

A CUTTHROAT BUSINESS – #1

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Everyone has warned new-minted realtor Savannah Martin that real estate is a cutthroat business. But Savannah doesn’t think she’s supposed to take the warning literally … until an early morning phone call sends her to an empty house on the ‘bad’ side of town, where she finds herself standing over the butchered body of a competitor, face to face with the boy her mother always warned her about.

Rafe Collier is six feet three inches of testosterone and trouble; tall, dark, and dangerous, with a murky past and no future—not the kind of guy a perfect Southern Belle should want to tangle with. In any way. But wherever Savannah turns, there he is, and making no bones about what he wants from her.

Now Savannah must figure out who killed real estate queen Brenda Puckett, make a success of her new career, and avoid getting killed—or kissed—by Rafe, all before the money in her savings account runs out and she has to go back to selling make-up at the mall.

 


 

HOT PROPERTY – #2

hot-property-e-reader-copy-smallWhen Savannah Martin’s fellow Realtor and friend Lila Vaughn is robbed during an open house, Savannah rushes to the rescue with tea and sympathy, or at least a really good lunch and a shoulder to cry on. However, Lila seems more peeved than distraught, and her main gripe is that the sexy robber who tied her to a kitchen chair—for her own good—didn’t follow her suggestion to tie her to the bed instead.

Lila’s description of the man fits Savannah’s old school-mate Rafael Collier to a T. Rafe has recently turned up in Savannah’s life again, and he isn’t above doing a little breaking and entering. Metro Nashville Homicide Detective Tamara Grimaldi is of the same opinion, and when Lila turns up dead, tied to her bed and strangled, Rafe becomes a suspect.

Now Savannah must get busy finding the real murderer before Detective Grimaldi can arrest the wrong man.


 

CONTRACT PENDING – #3

contract-pending-web-copy smallAbsence makes the heart grow fonder, they say, and Realtor Savannah Martin is certainly learning the truth of that statement. It’s been a month and a half since Rafael Collier left town, after the robbery ring he was part of got broken up by the police, and although Savannah knows it would be hideously inappropriate—not to mention supremely stupid—to miss him, she wishes he’d come back soon. His grandmother’s ailing, the nurse he hired to take care of her has disappeared, and somebody is watching the house and following Savannah as she goes about the business of bringing her first real estate transaction to a close.

But when Rafe comes back, things only go from bad to worse. Resident nurse Marquita Johnson is found murdered, and Metro Nashville Homicide Detective Tamara Grimaldi is asked to handle the case. It doesn’t take long for her to focus her interest, once again, on Rafe. As Savannah finally learns the truth about him, she finds herself in the path of a killer more ruthless than any she has encountered yet, a killer who won’t be swayed from his purpose and who isn’t too particular whom he has to go through to get to Rafe.

Now Savannah has to make the choice between staying safe by accepting Todd Satterfield’s proposal, or taking a chance on losing her heart and her life by trying to help Rafe, as the term ‘contract pending’ takes on a whole new meaning.


 

CLOSE TO HOME – #4

close-to-home-web-copy-smallSavannah’s late.

The kind of late that comes with midnight feedings and the pitter-patter of little feet. And while it’s a circumstance that should make everyone happy – now she can finally settle down and marry Todd Satterfield, the way everyone’s been hoping and praying! – it isn’t Todd’s baby. And Rafe, whose baby it is, didn’t sign on for fatherhood.

Add in the murder of Savannah’s sister-in-law Sheila, the trial of Sheila’s friend Marley, and the disappearance of Rafe’s twelve year old son David – the kid he never knew he had! – and things get complicated fast. And there is worse to come: When Rafe comes back to Nashville to help look for David, and learns that Savannah’s pregnant, things do not work out the way Savannah had hoped.

In the end, she’s left with nothing she wanted and a whole lot of trouble she didn’t, and for once, Rafe’s not there to save the day.


 

A DONE DEAL – #5

done-deal-web-copy smallSilver bells, silver bells…

It’s Christmas time in Nashville, and all Savannah wants to unwrap on Christmas morning is Rafe Collier. Unfortunately, things don’t look so good. He’s back in town, but not alone: on his arm is a stunning brunette, just the kind of woman Savannah always suspected was his type.

When Alexandra Puckett asks her help in figuring out a way to stop Maybelle Driscoll from marrying Alex’s father Steven, Savannah jumps on the chance. It’ll give her something to think about other than Rafe and the mysterious Carmen, and anyway, she doesn’t like Maybelle much herself.

Between investigating Maybelle’s past, helping her clients Aislynn and Kylie buy a house, and stalking Carmen and Rafe, Savannah soon has her hands full. And that’s before someone starts gunning for her. Suddenly it’s not a question of unwrapping anything on Christmas morning anymore; it’s a question of whether she’ll even survive to see another Christmas.


 

CONTINGENT ON APPROVAL – #5 1/2 – Christmas Novella

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Guess who’s coming to (Christmas) dinner…?

It’s the morning after the events of A DONE DEAL, and Savannah is looking at Rafe Collier, a pair of fuzzy handcuffs, a economy sized box of condoms (one of which plays Christmas carols), and the rest of her life… but first, there’s Christmas dinner with the Martins to get through.

Between Margaret Anne at her most poisonous, the ugliest Christmas sweater the world has ever seen, and yet another engagement ring under the tree, Savannah has plenty to worry about, not the least of which is whether Rafe will still want to stick around after dessert.

As if winning her home-town bad boy wasn’t hard enough, now she faces the monumental task of winning his acceptance by her family.
Will Rafe survive Christmas dinner with the Martins? Will their relationship survive some tough conversations they’ve been avoiding? Will Savannah finally get to eat dessert?


 

CHANGE OF HEART – #6

change-of-heart-web-copy-smallIt’s late February, just two months after Savannah Martin and Rafael Collier finally worked things out between them, and Rafe is already sneaking out of bed in the wee hours.

Catching fellow realtor Tim Briggs rinsing blood from his hands in the office sink makes for a welcome distraction, and when Tim disappears just as one of his clients is found dead in a nearby park, Savannah throws herself into the investigation with abandon.

But even the murder mystery taking place right under her nose can’t completely distract her from worrying about personal problems. Has Rafe changed his mind about their relationship, or is something else going on? And what are the chances of Savannah coming out of this latest debacle with her life – and her heart – intact?

 


 

KICKOUT CLAUSE – #7

kickout-clause-web-copy-smallWhen Shelby Ferguson, Savannah’s ex-husband’s new wife, begs Savannah’s help in figuring out what’s going on with Bradley, Savannah can’t in good conscience say no. Shelby has no one else to turn to, no one to whom she can admit that her marriage is on the rocks and that Bradley may be straying.

But helping Shelby turns out to be just the tip of the iceberg. With two different sets of buyers vying to purchase Mrs. Jenkins’s house, and an escaped prisoner targeting Savannah, she has more than enough to deal with. And that’s before TBI rookie Manny Ortega is shot down in cold blood.

With Savannah’s boyfriend Rafe Collier, and their friend, homicide detective Tamara Grimaldi, busy looking for Manny’s murderer, it’s up to Savannah to juggle buyers and adulterers and vandals and lawyers, and come out on top… without losing her Southern Belle poise or her life in the process.


 

PAST DUE – #8

past-due-web-copy-smallThe sins of the past are coming due, and someone has to pay…

Savannah Martin’s high school reunion is supposed to be a fun weekend of catching up with old friends and parading her boyfriend—Sweetwater bad boy Rafael Collier—in front of everyone who used to sneer at him back in the day. Not even the daily battle she’s waging with morning sickness can douse Savannah’s anticipation.

But when Rafe won’t come to Sweetwater, Savannah has to face her old schoolmates without his support. And her best friend Charlotte isn’t as happy for Savannah’s new relationship as Savannah had hoped. And when a dead body turns up in the Colliers’ old mobile home in the Bog, Savannah is thankful to be on her own. The sheriff is always looking for a reason to shove Rafe back behind bars, and a fresh homicide is just the excuse he needs.

But when another murder takes place at the reunion, even the threat of jail can’t keep Rafe away. Soon old classmates are dropping like bowling pins, and Rafe and Savannah are scrambling to catch up with a killer hell bent on making sure old enemies pay for old sins… all while trying to stay one step ahead of Sheriff Satterfield and the Columbia PD.


 

DIRTY DEEDS – #9 

With hotels in downtown filled to capdirty-deeds-web-copy-smallacity months in advance, real estate agent Savannah Martin decides to pick up some extra money renting out her empty East Nashville apartment. She’s living with her boyfriend, and the place is just sitting there, begging to be put to use.

But when her latest tenant ends up dead—strangled in Savannah’s bed by what might have been a paying customer—the promise of easy money quickly turns sour.

As the hunt for the killer leads to their shared hometown of Sweetwater, Tennessee, Savannah’s boyfriend, TBI agent Rafe Collier, is tapped to help with the investigation. But a familiarity with the town and the people in it isn’t necessarily a benefit when the main suspect in the murder is the man Savannah decided not to marry. The same man who has never forgiven Rafe for stealing her away…


 

UNFINISHED BUSINESS – #10 

unfinished business high res copy smallWhen realtor and recovering Southern Belle Savannah Martin wakes up alone on what is supposed to be her wedding day, she isn’t sure what to think. Did her fiancé—bad-boy TBI agent Rafe Collier—decide he couldn’t face being shackled to one woman for the rest of his life… or is something more sinister going on?

Savannah’s mother Margaret Anne, in Nashville for the nuptials, is certain she knows the truth: her future son-in-law has always been an ill-bred cad, and leaving his pregnant girlfriend practically at the altar clinches it. But the people who know Rafe aren’t so sure. Wendell Craig with the TBI and Tamara Grimaldi with the Metro Nashville PD suspect foul play, and set out to prove it.

Shortly, a dead woman turns up in Savannah’s house. Rafe’s son David goes missing from church camp on the Cumberland Plateau. And a shadowy figure from Rafe’s past is stalking them all—a knife-wielding serial killer who likes to hurt women, and who has a score to settle.

Now Savannah must solve the murder, find David, and avoid getting herself killed… or she can kiss her happy ending—and Rafe—goodbye.


 

BUSMAN’S HONEYMOON – #10.5

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It’s official. Margaret Anne Martin’s perfect daughter Savannah has tied the knot with her unsuitable boyfriend Rafe Collier, and they’re off on their honeymoon to sunny Florida, courtesy of Savannah’s brother Dix and sister Catherine.

However, the happy couple barely has time to enjoy a night of nuptial bliss before they find themselves face to face with the dead body of their hostess, Frenetta Wallin, the next morning. And as soon as the local sheriff’s deputy finds out about Rafe’s criminal record, Savannah’s new husband becomes suspect Numero Uno in what might not have been a natural death.

So much for a romantic honeymoon full of sun, sand, and hot sex.

Instead, Savannah must ferret out the truth about who wanted Frenetta dead, and why, before the sheriff can slap handcuffs on Rafe and slam the cell door behind him.


ADVERSE POSSESSION – #11 

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000035_00025] Just like her personal life, Savannah Martin’s real estate career has been an uphill battle. As far as Savannah is concerned, her personal zenith was getting Aislynn Turner and Kylie Mitchell into their dream home, a Victorian cottage in the hip and happening historic district of East Nashville, last January.

That was six months ago, and now the dream has turned sour. Someone is sending Aislynn and Kylie threatening letters, warning them to get out while they can. Aislynn is terrified and Kylie is ready to cut her losses.

But finding a poison pen is only the beginning. When Kylie is attacked and the previous owner of the house is killed, the hunt is on for a murderer, and Savannah is determined to get to the bottom of what’s going on before Aislynn and Kylie have to give up their dream home, and maybe each other, in the process.


UNCERTAIN TERMS – #12

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Savannah’s husband, TBI agent Rafe Collier, is back in disguise and undercover, getting into the middle of a gang war. And since he wants to keep his pregnant wife out of harm’s way, Savannah agrees to spend a couple of days under her mother’s roof in her quaint and quiet hometown of Sweetwater, Tennessee.

But out of harm’s way doesn’t necessarily mean out of trouble.

When her brother’s receptionist asks Savannah’s help in looking for her birth parents, Savannah is happy for the distraction, even when the search takes them to places she’d rather not go again. From Doctor Denise Seaver and the Tennessee Women’s Prison, to St. Jerome’s Hospital and then back to Sweetwater again, the hunt is on.

But when the final denouement reveals lifelong deception and betrayal much too close to home, Savannah wonders whether knowing the truth really is better than blissful ignorance.


SCARED MONEY – #13

scared-money-webWhen Savannah’s real estate company, Lamont, Briggs, and Associates, finds itself embroiled in a closing scam, broker Timothy Briggs asks Savannah’s help in figuring out what happened and who’s behind it.

The task is a welcome distraction for Savannah, whose private life is rocky. Carmen Arroyo is in prison in Nashville, nine months pregnant, and no one knows whether the baby is Rafe’s or not. And while Rafe doesn’t seem too worried about it, Savannah can’t say the same.

Meanwhile, down in Sweetwater, Savannah’s mother Margaret Anne is hitting the brandy while trying to come to terms with her late husband’s love child and her best friend’s thirty-four year silence on the subject.

Between one thing and another, it’s all Savannah can do to keep everything moving along smoothly. The very last thing she needs is someone rocking the boat…


BAD DEBT – #14

bad-debt-thumbnailWhen every member of a rural Sweetwater family is murdered in their beds, Maury County sheriff Bob Satterfield calls on the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for help. While Savannah’s husband, TBI agent Rafe Collier, heads to their shared hometown to help the sheriff figure out who and what is behind the grisly massacre, Savannah goes along to assist her old friend Yvonne McCoy’s quest to gain ownership of Beulah’s Meat’n Three restaurant.

But when Beulah Odom’s death turns out to have been murder, suddenly Yvonne’s on the hot seat. And with the sheriff occupied elsewhere and Beulah’s family gunning for Yvonne, it’s up to Savannah to figure out the truth before her old friend lands in jail… or six feet under.

 


HOME STRETCH – #15 

home-stretch-thumbnailThe end is near.

The end of Savannah’s pregnancy, that is. Less than a month to go, and she’ll be the mother of what will surely be the most adorable baby boy or baby girl in the world.

But before that, there’s Thanksgiving with the Martins to get through. Not to mention a little spot of murder at the group home where Mrs. Jenkins, Savannah’s grandmother-in-law, lives.

A spot of murder that leaves Mrs. Jenkins covered in blood, and with no memory of who else might have hurt night nurse Julia Poole.

With Savannah’s friend, homicide detective Tamara Grimaldi, investigating, and Savannah’s husband Rafe insisting that the detective can’t find out about Mrs. Jenkins’s involvement, in case she doesn’t share his rock-solid belief that Mrs. Jenkins would never kill anyone, Savannah’s caught between a rock and a hard place.

Can she help Mrs. Jenkins figure out the truth before Detective Grimaldi throws them both in prison… or before the real murderer comes back to finish the job?


HOME RUN – #15.5 

home-run-e-readerChristmas Time is Here
 
…and it’s back to Sweetwater to celebrate the holiday with the Martin family, and what’s left of the Colliers.
 
This time, Savannah and Rafe have their infant daughter with them, and everyone’s cooing over the new addition. But Carrie isn’t the only thing that’s changed. Several other people have news, and some of the directions things are going might alter the course of several lives, including Rafe’s and Savannah’s, for the foreseeable future.
 
Join the Martins and the Colliers, with their friends and relatives, for another Christmas in the Martin Mansion in Sweetwater!
 

WRONGFUL TERMINATION – #16 

wrongful-termination-thumbnailWhen Savannah’s husband Rafe loses his position with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations, Savannah gets excited about the prospect of them taking their new baby and moving back to their hometown of Sweetwater. Rafe has already received a job offer from the Columbia Police Department, and although he doesn’t seem terribly interested in accepting, Savannah would enjoy having her family around, not to mention Rafe’s grandmother Mrs. Jenkins.

But before they can make any decisions, Rafe’s former boss at the TBI turns up dead. And Rick Goins, the MNPD detective in charge, seems determined to prove that Rafe had something to do with it.

Detective Tamara Grimaldi, former colleague of Goins and now Chief of Police for Columbia, swears that while it might take him some time, Goins usually comes up with the right solution in the end. But with fresh victims dropping like flies, and someone seemingly doing their best to fan the flames of Goins’s biases, Savannah isn’t sure she can wait for the detective to come to his senses. Because while she’d like to move back to Sweetwater, she doesn’t want it to be because her husband is behind bars…


CONFLICT OF INTEREST – #17 

conflict-of-interest-thumbnailSavannah is delighted to be back in her hometown of Sweetwater, surrounded by family and friends, even if it’s only temporarily. The house in Nashville is in the process of being repaired after the fire. Baby Caroline is alive and well and getting bigger every day. And Rafe is all recovered, and is working for Tamara Grimaldi and the Columbia PD, at least for the time being. That probably won’t last, but for now, Savannah’s content.

There are flies in the ointment, however. Savannah’s best friend from high school is back in town, and seems to be setting her cap for Savannah’s brother Dix. Savannah has been rooting for Dix and Tamara Grimaldi to get together, and this new development doesn’t make her happy. Sure, she loves Charlotte… but Charlotte already has a husband, and shouldn’t need another one. She especially shouldn’t need Dix, not when Savannah wants Grimaldi to have him.

And then there’s the case Rafe is working on. Katie Graves was a teenager when she disappeared fifteen years ago. Now she’s back—or at least her remains are. And the evidence in what looks like a case of homicide points squarely to one of Savannah’s nearest and dearest. With another Martin on the hot-seat, and Rafe and Grimaldi duty-bound to serve the law, it’s up to Savannah to keep her family safe and out of prison.


RIGHT OF REDEMPTION – #18

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When Savannah and her best friend Charlotte decide to flip a foreclosed property in nearby Columbia, they talk Savannah’s sister Darcy into putting up the money for the renovations, and go to work.

But no sooner have they ripped up the carpet and torn out the kitchen cabinets, than the previous owner shows up and invokes his statutory right of redemption. After four years in prison for a crime he says he didn’t commit, he’s back in town to clear his name, and he wants his house back. And according to Savannah’s legal-eagle brother Dix, there’s nothing anyone can do to stop him.

Until someone drops him in his tracks, with a murder weapon that has Charlotte’s fingerprints all over it.

Savannah’s husband Rafe has his hands full at the local PD, so the murder investigation falls on another detective, one who doesn’t share Savannah’s conviction that Charlotte wouldn’t hurt a fly. But when Savannah decides to do some investigating of her own, it soon becomes clear that there’s more to this flipping fiasco than meets the eye…


COLLATERAL DAMAGE – #19

Collateral-Damage-thumbnaiA white supremacy hate group is spreading its tendrils through the bucolic hills of Middle Tennessee, holding target practice in Laurel Hill wildlife area and stockpiling weapons in preparation for a race war.

It’s up to Savannah’s husband Rafe to find and eliminate them… with a little help from Columbia chief of police Tamara Grimaldi, the joint sheriffs of Lawrence, Lewis, Giles, and Maury counties, and an undercover agent from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation – an undercover agent Rafe trained, and one he wants to keep alive.

But it isn’t Clayton in the cross-hairs when the members of the group discover they’re under investigation. It’s Rafe who goes down from a bullet to the chest, and Savannah who must sideline her worry to lend a hand in taking down the people responsible, before they can put their evil plans into action and affect damage that far supersedes the shooting of one man.


 SURVIVAL CLAUSE – #20

survival-clause-thumbnailSavannah’s friend Tamara Grimaldi was fourteen when her mom was murdered, and the body dumped along the side of Interstate 65 in Indiana. Since then, Grimaldi has kept an eye out for her mother’s killer, first as a homicide detective in Nashville, and now as the chief of police for the city of Columbia, Tennessee, a few miles off I-65.

When a new body with the old MO shows up along I-65 in Maury County, it looks like there might be a break in the case. But trying to find a serial killer who has been active for two decades, along an interstate that stretches from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes, is easier said than done.

Even though this time, there are indications that the culprit might be found closer to home…


LAST CALL

It’s wedding season in Sweetwater, and plenty of Savannah’s nearest and dearest have paired up to tie the knot. First up are Todd Satterfield and Marley Cartwright – but things take a turn when the father of the groom, Sheriff Bob Satterfield, doesn’t show up in time for the wedding.

Todd and Marley exchange vows anyway – the church is full and the minister waiting – but of course there’s no question about honeymooning in Tuscany under the circumstances. They stay home and, like everyone else in the family, turn their brains inside out to try to figure out what could have happened.

But as the hours and days tick by, Bob’s disappearance remains a mystery. The investigation is only made more confusing, and more urgent, by the discovery of another three missing men from a nearby town.

The next weekend is the wedding of Savannah’s brother Dix to Chief of Police Tamara Grimaldi, and Savannah’s determined that that’s going to take place as planned, Bob or no Bob. She takes over most of the wedding duties from Grimaldi, so the chief of police, along with Savannah’s husband Rafe and sheriff’s deputy Cletus Johnson, can keep scouring the county for any sign of the missing.

But when all four are found, all shot and left for dead in a pickup truck in the Bog, it’s clear that something big is at stake, and getting Bob back in (mostly) one piece, doesn’t mean he’ll stay that way long enough to attend his own wedding to Savannah’s mother two more weeks hence…