James Queally

All These Ashes

A Russell Avery Novel

“James Queally takes the skills he has acquired as an award-winning journalist and puts them to devastating use as an author.” —S.A. Cosby, bestselling author of King of Ashes

Russell Avery needs a story to tell. The reporter turned private investigator is almost out of clients after taking on the Newark Police Department and exposing a scandal that left him on the wrong side of the thin blue line. Desperate for work, Russell is as elated as he is skeptical when a detective shows up on his doorstep, asking him to look into one of Brick City's most haunting mysteries: the Twilight Four killings.

The detective tells Russell a story almost too good to be true, but maybe good enough to save his otherwise doomed journalism career. Supposedly, the wrong man was convicted in the brutal arson-murders that claimed four teenagers' lives, and if Russell finds the real culprit, he'll have the inside track on the kind of story that most reporters stake their careers on.

As Russell starts untangling the complications of a decades-old murder, he runs into opposition from City Hall and finds himself pulled into a contentious mayoral race that could impact Newark for generations to come, all while trying to stay one step ahead of the real Twilight Four killer, who wouldn't mind reducing Russell to ash.

Line of Sight

A Russell Avery Novel

"AN AMAZING FIRST NOVEL." —MICHAEL CONNELLY

All favors come with a cost, and after using what pull he has left in the Newark Police Department to get his private investigator’s license, former crime reporter Russell Avery finds himself paying the price. He spends his days keeping corrupt cops out of the crosshairs of Internal Affairs until a social justice activist shows him a troubling video: a YouTube snippet chronicling the same kind of use-of-force that had set New York City, Ferguson, and Cleveland on fire. The same violence he’s been covering up for Newark PD. When the young black man who filmed the video is found dead, Russell begins asking questions that land him on the wrong side of the thin blue line. As the details of the shooting become public and Newark flirts with the idea of letting history repeat itself, Russell must ally with street activists and gang members to put together the biggest story of his life . . . before the city he loves burns down around him.

Surviving the Lie

A Russell Avery Novel

From the critically acclaimed author of Line of Sight and All These Ashes comes the exciting final installment of the Russell Avery series, a trilogy of “turnpike noir” (CrimeReads) that bring the neighborhoods of New Jersey to life

After the death of his two oldest sources, Russell Avery trades in his life as a former journalist turned private investigator for peace and quiet at home. Aside from the occasional online reporting under the safety of an alias, Russell is enjoying being a normal guy with a normal girlfriend and suburban bliss just within reach. Until his onetime mentor disappears. Russell soon learns that other journalists in the area have gone missing, too, all under mysterious circumstances. Unable to resist the pull of a good story, he quickly finds himself at odds with a violent band of conspiracy theorists and ex-cops convinced that reporters are the “enemy of the people.” Russell sacrificed two careers to the belief in the power of truth. But now, face-to-face with an America where facts are more fluid than Newark’s Passaic River, he must decide if the truth is still worth fighting for.