THE SALT MAIDEN

Deep beneath the desert lies a woman’s body, mummified by salt, abandoned by those who ought to seek her. With her rests a secret that someone will kill to keep buried.

Devil’s Claw

It’s a barren wasteland, the dead center of nowhere, and the last place Dana Vanover wants to be. But it’s also the last known address of her missing sister. Determined to locate Angie, Dana won’t be deterred by suspicious rednecks, snakebite, or even the grim prognosis of Sheriff Jay Eversole: no woman could survive more than a week alone in the burning heat of Rimrock County . But the endless sands aren’t the only thing hotter than the chili served up in the Broken Spur café. Despite small-town dirty politics, a deadly car chase and a dangerous paternity search, Dana and Jay can’t keep their hands off each other. In the least populated area of the country they’ve managed to find love. Now all they have to do is stay alive long enough to uncover…

The Salt Maiden

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The Salt Maiden

How Far Would You Go...?

Leisure Romantic Suspense
December  2007

"Poetic use of language, intricate plotting and a wealth of fascinating details make Thompson¹s latest novel a masterful work of suspense.

Readers will come for the action and stay for the three-dimensional characters and well-crafted narrative. This is a fabulous read!"

Romantic Times BOOKreviews Top Pick and

Reviewers' Choice Nominee, Best Romantic Suspense of 2007

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Hell On Wheels...

The full moon brings out the crazies; anyone in emergency services knows that. But for hospice nurse Beth Ann Decker, the gruesome murder that rocks Hatcher County is shockingly unexpected. As is the return of the Texas community's most hated prodigal son -- Mark Jessup. Sixteen years before, the town's bad boy was behind the wheel of a pickup that left three cheerleaders dead and Beth Ann so badly injured that people whispered she'd have been better off in the grave with them.

Jessup is all man now -- tough, uncompromising, rich -- and a possible suspect in this new killing. Beth Ann knows he's the last person she should be spending time with, especially when a nighttime intruder makes it clear that she herself is a target. But in Mark's heated gaze, Beth Ann sees something a lot more exciting than pity. No matter how dangerous the road ahead, she's dead set on meeting life, and love...

Head On.

Head On

Lovespell Romantic Suspense
July 2007

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Once you've finishing reading, check here for the "Secret Epilogue"

Coming in August 2008!

TRIPLE EXPOSURE

A mother’s love. A son’s life snuffed out. A killer at large. Snapshots of reality, except sometimes layered images do not add up to a whole picture of the truth.

Better than anyone, photographer Rachel Carson knows the camera can lie. That’s how lurid altered pictures of her appeared on the Internet, starting a downward spiral that ended with her shooting a nineteen-year-old stalker in self-defense. Fleeing the press and the threats of an unidentified female caller, she retreats to her remote hometown in the Texas desert. In Marfa, where mysterious lights hover in the night sky, folks are used to the unexplainable, and a person’s secrets are off limits. But recluse Zeke Pike takes that philosophy even further than Rachel herself. In her viewfinder Zeke’s male sensuality is highlighted, his unexpressed longing for human contact revealed. Through a soft-focus lens, she sees a future for them beyond their red-hot affair, never guessing their relationship will expose the lovers to more danger than either can imagine.

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When a stalker makes an attempt on the life of community activist Luz Maria Montoya, there is no shortage of suspects... including the sexy Houston police detective assigned to crack the case.

Though Heat Lightning stands alone, fans of Fade the Heat will enjoy revisiting Reagan Hurley, Luz Maria's brother, Jack Montoya, and the mean streets of Houston, Texas.

Heat Lightning 
Lovespell Romantic Suspense
November 2006

"Heat Lightning is brilliant from start to finish, and an ending that 
comes right out of left field.   The characters are flawed and real, the plot is 
riveting, and the romance is hot.  This is possibly Colleen Thompson’s best 
thriller to date and is a must-read for readers who enjoy a truly spectacular 
romantic suspense tale."

- Affaire de Couer

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Sometimes the deadliest of lies are the ones we tell ourselves . . .

The worst day of Claire’s life begins with a 5:00 am knock on her door, the summons every cop’s wife dreads. But instead of telling her Spence is gone, killed in the line of duty, Claire gets even worse news. Her husband is in jail. For murder. And irrefutable evidence proves the person he really wants dead is her.

Betrayal turns to terror when Spence skips bail and someone begins vandalizing her horse ranch. In the fury of a Texas thunderstorm, her husband reappears with a story that sounds all too credible and a seductive magnetism Claire has never been able to resist. Is her need to believe in his innocence nothing but . . . The Deadliest Denial?

West Texas gossip paints every story a more interesting shade, especially when a married man goes missing with the local banker's wife and a stolen fortune. Susan Maddox is tired of feeling like an abandoned woman, and even angrier when neighbors act as if she's the one getting away with murder. Maybe her handsome-as-sin, bad-boy brother-in-law is the smartest choice of ally, especially since she's never been able to forget a star-studded night in his convertible back in high school. But who else can she trust to recover damning evidence from her husband's crashed hard dri.0ve? Who else is there to pick up the pieces when intruders set fire to her home, a truck runs her off the road, and a trail of dead men stops her cold? 

Who else can help her uncover a fatal error?

The Deadliest Denial 
Love Spell Romantic Suspense
May 2006

“Intriguing, sexy, impossible to put down.”

New York Times bestselling author JoAnn Ross

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Fatal Error
Leisure Romantic Suspense
November 2004

2005 RITA Finalist!

Winner - Texas Gold, Mainstream Category

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New Addition: Read The Secret Epilogue of Fatal Error!

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“First, you gotta find the perfect bottle,” the Firebug rasped. “Too hard, and it won’t bust when it hits the floor. Too thin, and it explodes on impact with the window, splashing you with the fuel mix and burning you to hell.”

Someone is setting fires in the Houston barrio, and Dr. Jack Montoya is the first intended victim. Is there some connection between the torching of his apartment and the gorgeous blonde from his past who appears at his clinic on the same day? For sure, Reagan Hurley turns up the flames of his libido, but these days the beautiful firefighter is more interested in putting out conflagrations than fanning old sparks. Yet when a hotly contested mayoral race turns ugly, when Reagan’s life is threatened and Jack’s career almost destroyed, when desire sizzles uncontrollably between them, it seems that no one will be able to…

Fade the Heat.

Fade the Heat
Love Spell Romantic Suspense
December 2005

"RITA finalist Thompson takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride full of surprising twists and turns in this exceptional novel of romantic suspense.. . She more than holds her own in territory blazed by Tami Hoag and Tess Gerritsen."

- Publishers Weekly

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Feb. 2003 Dangerous Attractions w/a Colleen Easton

July 2002 Innocent Deceptions w/a Gwyneth Atlee

Dec. 2001 Trust to Chance (sequel to Against the Odds) w/a Gwyneth Atlee

May 2001 Against the Odds w/a Gwyneth Atlee

Dec. 2000 Canyon Song w/a Gwyneth Atlee

July 2000 Night Winds w/a Gwyneth Atlee

May 1999 Touched by Fire w/a Gwyneth Atlee