The Portland Murders Series by MM Desch

Portland buries its secrets the way it buries everything — under gray skies and good intentions. But the dead don't stay quiet for long.

The Portland Murders series follows a fractured web of detectives, psychiatrists, and civilians whose lives collide across interconnected cases stretching from the Pacific Northwest to the mountains of Colorado. Each installment peels back another layer of places where corruption festers beneath civic pride, and the people seeking justice carry damage of their own.

Three books are available now — Tangled Darkness, If I Go Quiet, and Lethal Loyalty. The novella Before the Silence is on its way, and Play Me Once arrives this summer.

Read them in any order. Each book stands alone, each one cuts deeper, and the series doesn't let go.

The Prequel Novella to Book 2 in the Series

Olivia Hahn, a city employee in Durango, is manipulated by the obsessive and cunning Kate Nichols into a criminal scheme to steal sensitive financial data. Trapped between Kate’s insidious demands and a toxic relationship with her partner, James Nottin Flank, Olivia's situation becomes dire after her friend Valerie, who threatened to expose the plot, is found dead under suspicious circumstances. To survive, Olivia must outmaneuver her tormentors in a high-stakes game of deceit, blackmail, and murder. One glove. One touch. One deadly secret.

Following this intense detour into Durango's corridors of power, the narrative returns to Portland and a familiar, formidable protagonist.

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Novella: Before the Silence

The novella Before the Silence turns the series lens on Aaron Davis, forcing Portland's most competent detective to choose between the law and his brother — and revealing that the foundation beneath his entire career was never as solid as he believed.

Coming This Summer: Play Me Once

Play Me Once follows Grace MacKenzie from Durango to Portland, where the woman she loves — Kate Nichols — is building something far more dangerous than a relationship. By the time Grace understands what she's walked into, leaving quietly is no longer an option.