My Binge Reads: Kendra Elliot's Mercy Kilpatrick series

I love getting my teeth into a series that I can read and savour from book one right through to the last book. I love anticipating how the characters will develop and what challenges the writer will place in their way.

The Mercy Kilpatrick series is a delightful detective series featuring FBI agent Mercy Kilpatrick and local sheriff Truman Daly and is set near Portland, Oregon, in a rural town. 

Now, I'm all about the characters and Mercy is delightful - she's a conflicted FBI agent from a Prepper (The End Of the World As We Know It  - TEOTWAWKI) background and carries a GOOD (Get Out Of Dodge) bag with her at all times. She  is estranged from her Prepper family, who despise the police, so when in Book 1 she's forced back to her home town she is torn apart ... however, she stays there for another 6 books in the series and I  thoroughly enjoyed them all. With each book we see her evolve as a character as her romantic relationship grows and her responsibilities increase. 

From serial rapist/killers, to family annihilators, to Sovereign Citizen conspiracy theories to cold cases and more, these novels transported me  and gave a little insight into lifestyles that I would never have imagined. The pull of the prepper lifestyle still lies heavily inside Mercy and she has her own Prepper cabin that she works on to make sure that, should TEOTWAWKI happen, she has a self sufficient place to retreat to. 

These novels tackle dark subjects, with skill and I loved the way the narrative weaved in and out, keeping me on my toes. I also liked the touch of romance that balanced the darkness. An enjoyable and moreish series of novels

Highly recommended!

All available on Amazon and on Kindle Unlimited 

Here are  the blurbs 

A Merciful Death

Available here

FBI special agent Mercy Kilpatrick has been waiting her whole life for disaster to strike. A prepper since
childhood, Mercy grew up living off the land—and off the grid—in rural Eagle’s Nest, Oregon. Until a shocking tragedy tore her family apart and forced her to leave home. Now a predator known as the cave man is targeting the survivalists in her hometown, murdering them in their homes, stealing huge numbers of weapons, and creating federal suspicion of a possible domestic terrorism event. But the crime scene details are eerily familiar to an unsolved mystery from Mercy’s past.

Sent by the FBI to assist local law enforcement, Mercy returns to Eagle’s Nest to face the family who shunned her while maintaining the facade of a law-abiding citizen. There, she meets police chief Truman Daly, whose uncle was the cave man’s latest victim. He sees the survivalist side of her that she desperately tries to hide, but if she lets him get close enough to learn her secret, she might not survive the fallout…

Available here

A Merciful Truth

Raised by a family of survivalists, FBI agent Mercy Kilpatrick can take on any challenge—even the hostile reception to her homecoming. But she’s not the only one causing chaos in the rural community of Eagle’s Nest, Oregon. At first believed to be teenage pranks, a series of fires takes a deadly turn with the murder of two sheriff’s deputies. Now, along with Police Chief Truman Daly, Mercy is on the hunt for an arsonist turned killer.

Still shunned by her family and members of the community, Mercy must keep her ear close to the ground to pick up any leads. And it’s not long before she hears rumors of the area’s growing antigovernment militia movement. If the arsonist is among their ranks, Mercy is determined to smoke the culprit out. But when her investigation uncovers a shocking secret, will this hunt for a madman turn into her own trial by fire?

A Merciful Secret

Available here

Raised off the grid by survivalists, Mercy Kilpatrick believed in no greater safeguard than the backwoods of
Oregon. Unforgiven by her father for abandoning the fold for the FBI, Mercy still holds to her past convictions. They’re in her blood. They’re her secrets—as guarded as her private survival retreat hidden away in the foothills.

In a cabin near her hideaway, Mercy encounters a young girl whose grandmother is dying from multiple knife wounds. Hundreds of miles away, a body is discovered slashed to death in a similar way. The victims—a city judge and an old woman living in the woods—couldn’t be more different. With the help of police chief Truman Daly, Mercy must find the killer before the body count rises. Mercy knows that the past has an edge on her. So does her family. How can she keep her secrets now…when they’re the only things that can save her.

Available here

A Merciful Silence

For Mercy Kilpatrick, returning to rural Oregon has meant coming to terms with her roots. Raised as a prepper, Mercy is now relying on her survivalist instincts to defend her town from the people the law can’t reach. But this time, an investigation calling up a dark past for her and police chief Truman Daly may be hitting too close to home.

A rainstorm has uncovered the remains of five people—a reprise of the distinctive slaughter of two families twenty years ago. Except the convicted killer is in prison. Is this the case of a sick copycat, or is the wrong man behind bars? One person might have the answer. The lone survivor of the decades-old crimes has returned to town still claiming that she can’t remember a thing about the night she was left for dead. As the search for the truth becomes more dangerous, Mercy fears that the traumatized woman may not have buried her memories at all. She might be keeping them a secret. And there’s a price to be paid for revealing them.

A Merciful Fate

Available here

Raised by preppers, survivalist and FBI agent Mercy Kilpatrick has a deep-rooted need for a safe place.
Her getaway in the Cascade Foothills is her secret. But when skeletal remains are unearthed—those of a murdered man linked to a notorious heist—Mercy realizes she isn’t the only one with something to hide.

Thirty years ago, an armored-car robbery turned deadly. The mastermind was captured. Four conspirators vanished with a fortune. One of them, it appears, never made it out of the woods alive. For Mercy and her fiancé, Police Chief Truman Daly, their investigation opens old wounds in Eagle’s Nest that cut deeper than they imagined. Especially when a reckless tabloid reporter draws fresh blood. It’s clear to Mercy that somebody in this close-knit community is not who they seem to be.

Some are still shattered by the heist. Some still have reason to be afraid. But which one will kill again and again to hide three decades of secrets? To land this case, it’s up to Mercy to unmask a familiar stranger before someone else dies.

Available here

A Merciful Promise 

The job: infiltrate a militia amassing illegal firearms in an isolated forest community. FBI agent Mercy Kilpatrick is the ideal candidate. She knows Oregon. She’s near the compound. And having been raised among survivalists, Mercy understands the mind-set of fanatics. Lay low, follow rules, do nothing to sound an alarm, and relinquish all contact with the outside world. She’s ready to blend in.

As Mercy disappears into the winter hills, something just as foreboding emerges. Mercy’s fiancé, Eagle’s Nest police chief Truman Daly, is faced with a puzzling series of murders—three men dumped in random locations after execution-style shootings.

Now, for Mercy, trapped in a culture where suspicion is second nature, and betrayal is punishable to the extreme, there is no way out. No way to call for help. And as plans for a catastrophic terrorist event escalate, there may be no way to stop them. Even if Mercy dies trying.