Killing Innocence

KILLING INNOCENCE, the second installment in Merit Clark's award-winning Denver-based mysteries, takes homicide detective Jack Fariel deep into the world of human trafficking.

"How could four young women simply disappear? One similarity between them-girls no one cared about, no one would look for, no one would miss. Perfect prey."

What if a church was a front for human trafficking?

A minister with deadly secrets.

A brutal zealot for hire.

A sadistic manipulative millionaire.

And dead girls discarded in Denver's back alleys.

Detective Jack Fariel has more bodies than leads or time. When his homicide investigation uncovers a sex trafficking ring, Jack realizes he's not up against a single murderer, but a criminal network with ties to the Middle East.

Vulnerable, undocumented immigrant girls think they've found safe harbor at a church not realizing they've landed in the grips of a corrupt minister willing to sell them into servitude or sex work for the right price. As girls start dying, it takes all of Jack's skill and experience to stop the trafficking and stay alive himself. As he gets closer to the truth, the detective is hunted by an adversary with no remorse, no conscience, no hesitation.

But Jack won't let these young innocents down. He'll stop the trafficking even if it costs him his life.