My current book, Mass Transit, published by Black Rose Writing, blackrosewriting.com. is available for preorder NOW and ONLY at https://www.blackrosewriting.com/mystery/masstransit. If readers purchase prior to the publication date of November 23, 2022, they may use the promo code: PREORDER2022 to receive a 15% discount.
Mass Transit
Mass Transit (mystery/suspense) features a combative but likable female PI, Birdie Kelly, struggling to make it in a male-dominated profession during the mid-fifties. Her emotions are worn in full view and keep mature readers, who enjoy nostalgia, in constant suspense and will want to follow her as she strives for money, revenge, and love life.
Birdie, a former stage actress with a hair-trigger temper, has hit bottom, living in a rundown boatyard in Brooklyn when a prominent Broadway producer calls. Instead of a performing role, he offers her a case. His daughter has been savagely murdered in Hell’s Kitchen. So Birdie and her new PI license hit the streets of Manhattan, breaking laws and making enemies of the two NYC detectives she’s supposed to work with.
She delves into the chaotic emotions of an overzealous hunter and becomes the pursued. Non-stop tension and action intertwine through New York City’s streets and subway tunnels. Like a roaring train, it races and gains speed until the supernatural ending collides with reality.
My other books are The Crib, a Sam and Doc novel and The Circus, another Sam and Doc adventure.
The Crib
Suspense and action abound in the Sam and Doc novel. Set in a small town in Western Pennsylvania in the mid 50’s Sam Simon, a retired coal mine geologist and full-time recluse, teams up with the mine’s former doctor, Doc Martin, to investigate suspicious happenings near Sam’s home. Events quickly explode when a unique first-century church relic, believed to have miraculous power, is accidentally found.
Sam and Doc are drawn into the middle of the chaotic race between local thieves and a ruthless international group, both attempting to gain its possession. A constant flow of oddball characters, such as a crossbow-wielding killer, a corrupt priest, and his girlfriend, complicate their search.
The only way out of their dilemma is to expose the unknown thieves. While doing so, they discover a connection between the church relic and why a once unpolluted stream has become a breeding ground for one-eyed toads. They explore mine shafts that are not supposed to exist and discover a mysterious wingless cargo plane loaded with stolen artifacts and dynamite. Their desperate plan to trap the thieves inside a river lock nearly caused Sam to lose his life. After their river barge and lock are blown up, the thieves are exposed, and the church relic is discovered.
The Circus
The mystery begins in a small, Western Pennsylvania coal-mining town in the mid-1950s, seemingly far removed from where it concludes in a raging firestorm in Southern California. A constant flow of action and quirky individuals, such as a ruthless circus clown and a beguiling dwarf detective, complicate the story.
Sam Simon, a retired mine geologist, and his friend, Doc Martin, are targeted for revenge by a cold-blooded former cop and past nemesis. It starts with the surprise arrival of Doc’s long-missing car and discovering a dead body in its trunk. To unravel the clues, they enlist the aid of a wealthy zoo veterinarian, Lenora Jaminson, who provides advice and the use of her private airplane.
The search for answers takes them to a misplaced, out-of-season circus, where they are nearly eaten by a trio of caged tigers. Their rescue, by the dwarf Japanese American private eye, Jake Ozaki, leads them on an adventure, discovering illegal gold and the stolen lives of a California Japanese family after they are forced into an internment camp by unscrupulous soldiers at one onset of World War II.
In Southern California, Sam, Doc, and Lenora encounter a mysterious and emotionally scarred Uno Koba, a near recluse who raises earthworms. He quickly becomes the center of their search. However, the powerful forces of raging fires fueled by Santa Ana winds complicate the story and help expose the secrets of a greedy businessman behind the deception.