Life happens when you’re not looking. Unfortunately, so do a lot of other things. Hazard and Somerset: Off Duty Volume 3 is a collection of short stories. It includes the following: “If Your Friends Jumped Off a Bridge” Hazard is going to get Evie the perfect toy for her birthday, no matter what. This story takes place before Relative Justice. “Don’t Tell Your Dad” Getting Colt settled isn’t exactly a smooth process, but you’ve got to break some eggs (or…something) to make an omelet. This story takes place before Custody Battles. “Wait Till Your Father Gets Home” Somers just wants to take a nap on his birthday. This story takes place before Domestic Animals. “Responsible Adults” Hazard and Somers chaperone a school dance. This story takes place before Father Complex. “Under My Roof” Hazard and Somers just want some alone time. Some adult alone time. This story takes place before Father Complex. “One Day You’ll Thank Me” Hazard’s birthday scavenger hunt, redux. This story takes place before Final Orders. “Hazard and Somerset: Off Duty 3” Hazard and Somers take Colt to summer camp, and things go sideways. This story takes place after Final Orders. Please note that the first seven stories were distributed previously in various formats. “Hazard and Somerset: Off Duty 3” is exclusively available in this collection.

Hazard and Somerset: Off Duty Volume 2 is a collection of short stories. It includes the following: “John-Henry Somerset: Sold!” Somers enters a charity bachelor’s auction without telling his boyfriend. This story takes place before The Rational Faculty. “Pretty and Pink and Perfect” Hazard plans a toddler’s birthday party. This story takes place before The Rational Faculty. “Pride Slays Thanksgiving” Hazard and Somers prepare for their first Thanksgiving as a couple. This story takes place before Police Brutality. “Santa: A Cultural Hegemony” Hazard is volun-told to dress up as Santa. This story takes place before Transactional Dynamics. “Valentine’s in Six Beats” Hazard executes his do-over for Valentine’s. This story takes place before Wayward. “Emery’s Birthday Scavenger Hunt” Somers plans the perfect birthday for Hazard . . . or so he thinks. This story takes place before The Keeper of Bees. “Hazard and Somerset: Off Duty” A series of six vignettes featuring Hazard and Somers on a Caribbean vacation. This story takes place after The Keeper of Bees. Please note that the first six stories have distributed previously to mailing list subscribers and at GRL 2019. “Hazard and Somerset: Off Duty” is exclusively available in this collection.

After Emery Hazard loses his job as a detective in Saint Louis, he heads back to his hometown--and to the local police force there. Home, though, brings no happy memories, and the ghosts of old pain are very much alive in Wahredua. Hazard’s new partner, John-Henry Somerset, had been one of the worst tormentors, and Hazard still wonders what Somerset’s role was in the death of Jeff Langham, Hazard’s first boyfriend. When a severely burned body is discovered, Hazard finds himself drawn deeper into the case than he expects. Determining the identity of the dead man proves impossible, and solving the murder grows more and more unlikely. But as the city’s only gay police officer, Hazard is placed at the center of a growing battle between powerful political forces. To his surprise, Hazard finds an unlikely ally in his partner, the former bully. And as they spend more time together, something starts to happen between them, something that Hazard can’t--and doesn’t want--to explain. The discovery of a second mutilated corpse, though, reveals clues that the two murders are linked, and as Hazard gets closer to answers, he uncovers a conspiracy of murder and betrayal that goes deeper--and closer to home--than he could ever expect.

Some parents would die for their children. Others will do a whole lot worse. Emery Hazard and his husband, John-Henry Somerset, are settling into their new normal—at home, with the latest addition to their family, and at work, as Somers adapts to his new role and Hazard manages his expanding agency. The only thing Hazard is worried about is getting through dinner with his in-laws. When his father-in-law requests that Hazard and Somers join him for a weekend deer hunting, it sounds simple enough: spend a night camping, give their foster son a chance to spend time with his friend, and—possibly—prevent a parental kidnapping. But nothing is ever as simple as it sounds. At deer camp, Hazard and Somers find themselves drawn into a toxic family feud between parents battling for custody. After the husband is shot and killed deep in the forest, detectives from the Sheriff’s Department are convinced that the killer is a local extremist—a member of the neo-Nazi Ozark Volunteers. Hazard and Somers, though, aren’t so sure, and as they probe deeper into the killing, they find that many people had a reason to want the victim dead, and the killing itself might not be what it seems. Then a drive-by shooting almost claims the lives of Hazard, Somers, and the victim’s wife. The killer’s work isn’t done, and Hazard and Somers must race to find the truth before the killer strikes again.

An impossible son. An impossible murder. The honeymoon is definitely over. When Emery Hazard and his husband, John-Henry Somerset, arrive home from their honeymoon, they’re shocked (understatement of the year) to find a boy waiting for them on their doorstep. Colt, fifteen and eager to pick a fight, claims to be Hazard’s son. It’s almost a relief, then, for Hazard and Somers to be called out to assist the Dore County Sheriff’s Department with what seems to be an impossible murder: a man has been found stabbed to death in a stretch of woods, and the only set of footprints in the soft ground belong to the victim. The more Hazard and Somers learn about the dead man, the more confusing the case becomes. While searching his home, they discover a secure room from which several high-end computers have been stolen. A woman makes a daring theft as the house is being secured and escapes with valuable documents. The dead man’s neighbor, who found the body, is obviously lying about how she discovered him. And something very strange is going on with the victim’s sons, who are isolated at school and seem to have found their few friends through the youth group at a local church--and in a close relationship with the hip, young, attractive pastor. An attempt on Colt’s life leaves Hazard’s (possible) son in the hospital. When Hazard and Somers learn that the attack came after Colt tried to investigate the murder on his own, they realize he is now in the killer’s crosshairs, and Hazard and Somers must race to uncover the truth. The results from the paternity test aren’t back yet, but father or not, Emery Hazard isn’t going to let anyone harm a child. Please note that Relative Justice follows The Keeper of Bees; it should not be read as the first Hazard and Somerset book.

Sometimes, the most dangerous animals are the ones you let inside. When a man hires Emery Hazard to track down a teenager who, he claims, robbed him, Hazard isn’t convinced. The story has holes in it, and the client seems eager—too eager—to keep the authorities from getting involved. But Hazard is willing to play along; he suspects something much darker is going on, and he wants to know what it is. Then his husband, John-Henry Somerset, connects the boy in question to an ongoing suspicious death investigation, and both men realize they’ve stumbled upon something much more complicated. There are too many loose threads: missing money, stolen jewelry, a husband back from the dead, and a string of violent assaults on men paying for sex. And there are too many people with their own agendas. After Hazard’s client turns up dead, though, the pressure is on. The killer isn’t done yet, and the closer Hazard and Somers come to unearthing the connection between the victims, the greater the danger. They find themselves in a race to uncover the truth before another victim is claimed—and, if Somers is really lucky, in time for him to plan the perfect Valentine’s Day.

Three months have passed since Emery Hazard and John-Henry Somerset faced a madman and lived to tell about it. Three months have passed since Emery Hazard resigned from his job as a detective. Three months can be too long and too short, all at the same time. On Halloween, a professor at the local college is murdered in his apartment, in front of dozens of witnesses. Then the killer disappears. Somers is assigned the case—and a new partner. While Somers investigates the murder, Hazard struggles to find purpose in his new freedom. Despite his decision to stay away, he finds himself drawn to the case. But he’s no longer police, and in the small town of Wahredua, not all of his former colleagues are happy to see him investigating another crime. When the sheriff’s son and husband go missing, though, the case becomes more complicated than either Hazard or Somers had expected. And soon they learn that someone else is manipulating events in Wahredua. Someone who is very interested in Emery Hazard.