Barbara Leachman

A Penny Found synopsis
A Joe Denali Mystery

The lives of Albuquerque homicide detective Joe Denali and accused murderer Penny Murphy come together in “A Penny Found,” a novel that includes bank fraud, a Mexican mafia connection and one woman’s desire to break free of a life of abuse.
Sold by her father at age fifteen, Penny Murphy spends ten years imprisoned by fifty-year old banker Gabe Russo. Never completely broken by her imprisonment, when the opportunity arises, Penny leaves a drunken and injured Russo tied to a bed in his own basement and escapes with his car, his money and his gun.
Mercy Smith and Billy Clause come into Penny’s life and appear to be her answer to freedom. She goes to work in Clause’s bar, but when Clause learns of Russo’s death, he takes Penny’s car from her. Once again she is trapped in a different type of prison.
Joe fears his recurring dream portends the death of someone close to him. When his fellow detective undergoes critical heart surgery, Joe comes face-to-face with his own mortality and failures. His assignment to find the killer of a man tied to a bed in his own basement is hampered by his friend’s illness and his own personal problems. He questions his part in his recent divorce but continues to hold out hope that he and his ex-wife will reunite so he can be a full-time father to his child. Yet he is able to find Penny and brakes protocol almost getting killed.
In a tense operation using aircraft, night goggles and unmarked cars, Joe, Albuquerque Police Department special ops and the FBI work together to arrest Clause, intercept the truck that is bringing in drugs and free the women Clause is holding for sale to the Mexicans.
When the case is finally wrapped up, Joe finds it hard to forgive himself for the mistakes he made that could have ended his own life and that of Penny Murphy.