Try Dying
James Scott Bell
Hardcover, 288 pp., $21.99
Center Street (October 24, 2007)

Ty Buchanan is a rising star in his L.A. law firm, until the suspicious death of his fiancee forces him into the underbelly of the city to discover the truth behind her death. He soon has more than his career on the line, as he finds himself tangled up with a mysterious group of former gang members, and becomes the target of a killer.

Try Darkness
James Scott Bell
Hardcover, 304 pp., $21.99
Center Street (July 30, 2008)

Recovering from his fiancée’s death and a false accusation of murder, Ty Buchanan is far from his life as a lawyer for a big L.A. firm. He offers legal services from his “office” at a coffee bar. A woman with a six-year-old girl comes to him for help. She’s being illegally evicted from a transient hotel, represented by his old law firm and former best friend. Buchanan won’t back down. But then she ends up dead. Determined to find the killer and protect the little girl, Buchanan must depend on skills he never needed in the courtroom.