Events
The folks at the Jefferson City Public Library were kind enough to invite me to a book signing. Take a look at the poster they made up for the event. Find me at 108 City Center Drive, Jefferson City, TN. Call 865-475-9094 for more information. See you then.
Writing Basics for Young Authors
Many thanks to Denver librarian Bethany Langston for forwarding this information from one of her young writing students. The young lady wanted to share this with other beginning writers who may stop by my links page. Those future novelists will be forever grateful to Amelia and her mom for sharing this good information. https://www.wristbandexpress.com/content/hand-hobbies-a-resource-guide-to-writing-basics/
read moreHERE COMES A MYSTERY selects Wayne Zurl as “One of the top 10 mystery/action writers you need to be reading.”
Author/blogger Caleb Pirtle III, proprietor of the successful blog HERE COMES A MYSTERY has chosen me as one of the top ten mystery/action writers you need to be reading. Wow! lucky me. Caleb has published more than 80 books, has worked as a reporter for a Texas newspaper, has been travel editor for Southern Living Magazine, has written two teleplays for the famous Kenny Rogers GAMBLER series and the screenplay for the TNT TV movie THE TEXAS RANGERS. With those writing credentials, I feel honored for him to have picked me as one of his...
read moreSins of Eden
After losing their jobs at Prospect PD, veteran detectives Sam Jenkins and John Gallagher set up shop as private investigators. But their life in the private sector is short-lived when their former colleague, Bettye Lambert, the new county sheriff, enlists them to investigate a seemingly cold missing person’s case. Twenty-seven year old Tommy Lee Helton disappeared from the beautiful and idyllic Orr’s Valley section of Prospect where he lived. None of his family or friends can find him and no one can provide a clue to where he may have gone....
read moreFIND ALL THE SAM JENKINS MYSTERIES and other good books all in one place.
Look to BOOKS RADAR for novels and collections from best selling writers and INDIE authors alike. https://www.booksradar.com/zurl-wayne/zurl.html
read moreA BLEAK PROSPECT awarded 98 out of 100 possible points.
Storytelleralley.com is a site that lists and endorses juried books by independent authors and writers traditionally published by small presses. Recently they reviewed A BLEAK PROSPECT (Sam Jenkins mystery #8) and awarded it 98 out of a possible 100 points. Please take a look at what they said about the book… Published by Melange Books, LLC in April 2018. Cover Design Score: 10 The cover for this book is good. The darkness it totally appropriate to its genre and adds effect to the ‘darkness’ of the subject matter. The background is good, and...
read moreA Bleak Prospect
A serial killer dubbed The Riverside Strangler by the Knoxville press corps has murdered eight Internet prostitutes in East Tennessee, the most recent found floating in Prospect’s Crystal Creek. Chief Sam Jenkins joins a task force led by the county’s chief deputy, Ryan Leary, a cop known for his flamboyant police work and questionable methods. When investigators hit a stone wall in the case, the killer strikes again—or was it a copycat? The type of victim and location follow the Strangler’s pattern, but some details are significantly...
read moreGraceland on Wheels Anthology
A collection of six crime stories that take you on a trip through the more off-beat regions of law enforcement. Follow Prospect, Tennessee’s Police Chief Sam Jenkins as he meets Gypsy conmen and a beautiful fortune teller in GYPSIES, TRAMPS & THIEVES, a gun show hustler and his right-wing militia cronies in HEAVEN’S GATE and a collection of pool hustlers competing for enough prize money they’d kill for in ALVIS IS IN THE BUILDING. A Chinese restaurant owner loses a little finger and feels the grip of vicious thugs from a Malaysian triad...
read moreThe Great Smoky Mountain Bank Job
Six novelettes where Sam Jenkins gets to show off his skills learned as a former New York detective. When your high school classmate shows up on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List, can your police career get any more interesting? As a favor to a beautiful treasury agent, Prospect, Tennessee’s police chief Sam Jenkins handles a cold case robbery-homicide and clears the forty-three year old mystery of THE GREAT SMOKY MOUNTAIN BANK JOB. In MURDER IN A WISH-BOOK HOUSE, Sam investigates the most grisly murder of his career. Then, in V IS FOR…VITAMIN?,...
read moreMurder In Knoxville
Six novelettes where Sam Jenkins gets to show off his skills learned as a former New York detective. A LABOR DAY MURDER and A MURDER IN KNOXVILLE take the reader into the world of domestic violence with a smattering of political corruption. In BULLETS OFF-BROADWAY, the investigation leads Sam into the life of a victim who spent his leisure time reenacting the days of the old west and was killed with an antique revolver. The hard-boiled story of SCRAP METAL AND MURDER begins with a simple larceny and quickly escalates to the murder of a...
read moreHonor Among Thieves
Cops run into all kinds of characters on the job. But when Chief Sam Jenkins meets four people from his former life as a New York detective, it throws him for a loop. The first was a low level gangster named Carlo “Carly Nickels” DeCenzo—lying on a slab in the Blount County morgue with Sam’s name and phone number written on a scrap of paper in his pocket. Next there’s Gino Musucci, infamous Northeast crime boss who says he wants to retire and relocate—to Sam’s town of Prospect, Tennessee. And there’s Dixie Foster, Sam’s former secretary and...
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