Fracked To Death: A Cortlandt Scott Mystery Thriller

Geologist turned private investigator, Cortlandt Scott, doesn’t do body guarding. He likes to investigate oilfield crime and oil business scams. But when Mercedes Drexler, Denver’s richest woman, calls to make him the proverbial ＂offer he can’t refuse＂, to become part of her company in return for protection, he is forced to listen.Cort hasn’t worked in the business for years and the opportunity to learn about and actually participate in the latest technologies proves to be seductive. Those latest technologies are in the controversial practices of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing...＂fracking＂ to the general populace.Cort didn’t expect to be drawn into a complex and dangerous venture that would take him from a hospital emergency room to a fracking operation in North Dakota to the boardrooms of Houston. He didn’t expect to be beaten, threatened and shot at. And most of all, he didn’t expect to involve his lover, CSI operative Lindsey Collins, and his best friends, homicide investigators Tom Montgomery and George Ivins, in an air and land chase from Denver to Dallas.The list of suspicious characters and bad actors in Cort’s latest case range from environmental activists to street thugs to oilfield rivals to international terrorists. During the course of the investigation, Cort’s and Lindsey’s relationship is tested to the limits and, as in previous cases, his working arrangements with Tom and George become strained.FRACKED TO DEATH deals with issues found in today’s headlines: fracking, oil production, big money, greed and corruption, and international terrorism. It will take Cort to the limits of his abilities to protect Mercy as well as himself.

Lee Mossel was born, raised, and educated in Oregon. After receiving an advanced degree in geology, he joined the Shell Oil Company as a petroleum geologist in Denver, Colorado. Over the next thirty-five years, he explored for oil and gas throughout the US plus Canada and Australia. He worked for several independent oil and gas companies including founding two such operations. The true events and real characters in the oil business are often times ＂bigger than life＂ and ＂stranger than fiction＂ and lend themselves to fictionalization. He lives in Parker, Colorado, in a house and setting very similar to that of Cortlandt Scott including Cort’s sunken hot tub and well stocked wine cellar. He enjoys world travel, golf, good wines and food, and reading--not necessarily in that order.