Private Investigators

Featured Book: Rizzo’s Rules by George Mazzeo

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A classic Hard-Boiled mystery in the style of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and Mickey Spillane. Lou Rizzo is a private eye with a drinking problem. He barely scratches out a living catching wayward husbands. Not very glamorous, but it pays the bills. When his best friend dies in a suspicious accident, the victim’s family asks him to investigate. He reluctantly agrees and soon finds himself drawn into a web of lies and intrigue. Add to that, someone is trying to kill him. To solve the case, he must conquer his personal demons, sort out the clues and stay alive.

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Featured Book: Disturbing the Peace by Winona Kent

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Disturbing the Peace is a 22,000 word novella which introduces us to professional musician and amateur sleuth Jason Davey.

Jason’s last job was aboard the Star Sapphire cruising from Vancouver to Alaska. Now Jason’s back on shore, and he has a regular gig at a jazz club in London.

When Dominic, Jason’s film-student son, asks his dad to help track down a missing musician for a documentary he’s making, Jason leaps at the chance.

Ben Quigley played rhythm guitar in Jason’s parents’ folk group Figgis Green in the late 1960s. And he dropped off the face of the earth four years ago.

Jason’s search ultimately takes him to Peace River, Alberta – 300 miles from Edmonton in the Canadian north. And what he discovers there is both intriguing – and disturbing.

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Featured Book: Missing Mona: A Tommy Cuda Mystery by Joe Klingler

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$29 – Post Pinned to Mystery Reads Home Page for 7 days

“A private investigator, a mysterious hitchhiker, dancers, gangsters, a mysterious bag …and twists and turns that will have the reader unable to put it down, Missing Mona…has it all.” — San Francisco Book Review (5 stars)

As Tommy looks squarely at his next decade his smartphone convinces him the time is ripe for a change. So he hits the road.

He immediately meets a damsel in distress named Mona. She persuades him that the bright lights and dark clubs of Chicago might be his kind of town. So on a summer Saturday night they settle into a fancy hotel.

On Sunday…Mona disappears.

After truth and lies are stirred like a blue martini, being assaulted, and witnessing a shooting that drowns a Ferrari–Tommy is desperate to help Mona.

If he can find her.

“This engaging and romantic story is packed with action and intrigue.” — Foreword Reviews

“Klingler presents his craftiest yarn to date, summoning the pulpy spirits of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett.” –Kirkus Reviews

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Featured Book: Safety Valve by David Chill

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When shots are fired at a legendary sports agent, the prime suspect is the man’s former business partner. But nothing is the way it seems in this gripping mystery,. And as the close calls evolve into murder, Private Investigator Burnside enters into a confounding world that gets murkier as the probe deepens. From former clients to spurned lovers to angry underworld figures, there are many people who harbor reasons to kill.

Combining an intricate plot with compelling characters, Burnside must go down yet another treacherous path. Fraught with wry humor, the unexpected climax of the story will take readers by surprise — in more ways than one!

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Featured Book: Karma Dead Ahead by D.H. Montgomery

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“Karma Dead Ahead” is a nicely paced detective/mystery story with appealing well-drawn characters and a plot that always keeps you guessing as it alternates between humor and suspense. On sale for 99 cents.

Two graduate students in a university paranormal research lab become accidental detectives as they go searching for a woman who fails to return from her Caribbean vacation. They get help from a group of psychics known as the “Gang of Four” and a hi-tech witchcraft practitioner. The psychics reveal that a karmic debt from two hundred years ago has put the woman on a path to danger. After some brilliant deductions and twists and turns, the two detectives come face to face with a deranged killer and his intended latest victim. Just as karma set off the chain of events in the beginning, it also determines the dramatic outcome.

“Karma Dead Ahead” is not just another Detective Mystery/Suspense novel. There are a number of incidents that take place that humorously satirize the corruption and dysfunction of modern institutions — the media, celebrity worship, the scientific establishment, business and elite protection from law enforcement — giving the novel depth and comic relief from the more suspenseful main plot.

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Featured Book: Bubble Screen by David Chill

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It starts with some missing warehouse inventory, but the case quickly moves beyond simple larceny. And when theft turns to murder, the stakes rise dramatically.

The story leads Private Investigator Burnside onto the trail of some people who will do anything to acquire money — and they will use any means necessary to keep it. And as he plunges into the investigation, Burnside also has to make a life altering decision about his own future.

Interweaving the world of business with the world of football, Bubble Screen is set in the heart of Los Angeles. It is a captivating thrill ride that combines fascinating characters, wry humor, and an explosive ending that is both stunning and unexpected.

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The Origin Of Murder by Jerold Last

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Roger and Suzanne take a vacation cruise through the Galapagos Islands, 600 miles west of Ecuador. Suzanne finds a dead body floating with a couple of bullet holes in its back floating in the Pacific Ocean and we’re off to solve another deadly mystery. Among the suspects is a treacherous travel agent with an eye-opening secret, a cheerful couple of bird watchers from Germany, a happy honeymooning couple, two sensual sisters from San Francisco, two recent retirees from Australia working through their bucket list, and two middle-aged Montevideo residents seeing the wonders of the world while they can. Lurking in the background behind the scenes is a mysterious Ecuadorian general. One reviewer says, “A fast-paced, exciting mystery I didn’t want to set aside till finished… A great continuation of the series!”

Targeted Age Group:: Adult

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
Rediscovering my wife’s journal from our own tour of the Galapagos Islands a few years ago. It gave me most of the background material I needed to write this novel.

The Deadly Dog Show by Jerold Last

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Private detective Roger Bowman is hired to impersonate a wealthy sponsor showing a champion German Shorthaired Pointer named Juliet at dog shows in California. His undercover assignment is to ferret out whether some of the winners are cheating. Before long, bodies of murdered judges start popping up at dog show venues and Roger’s wife Suzanne is being stalked by a mysterious admirer. With Juliet’s help, Roger and his fellow detective, professional dog handler Bruce, find a key clue. The trail leads from San Francisco to West Texas. Reviewers love the whodunit mystery and the inside information about how dog shows work.

Targeted Age Group:: Adult

What Inspired You to Write Your Book?
My wife breeds and shows German Shorthaired Pointers. I write mystery novels. The stars converged and we decided it was time to have my series characters solve a series of murders at dog shows.

Featured Book: The Big Bend by Gary Showalter

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About The Big Bend by Gary Showalter

Terry Rankin, sole proprietor of Rankin Personal Security Services in Orlando, Florida, accepts a private meeting with a potential client. Sheila Adamson is looking for a bodyguard to protect her from her abusive husband, but Rankin refuses to take the job until she begins divorce proceedings. Moments later, Mrs. Adamson is dead and Rankin is buried beneath the rubble of his house, knocked flat by a car bomb planted in the dead woman’s Jaguar. When he’s questioned by the local police, Rankin learns that Adamson’s attorney has also turned up dead, his Cadillac riddled with bullets. Suspecting there is more to these murders than a domestic dispute, he teams up with Orlando cop Cathy Diamond for a thrilling—and treacherous—adventure that will lead them deep into the heart of the Everglades and hot on the trail of a dangerous criminal. In Rankin’s sardonic bodyguard-turned-investigator, Gary Showalter has created a new hero for fans of hardboiled mysteries.

“The Big Bend” is followed by “Hog Valley”, “Twisted Key” and “Lonesome Cove”. The fifth novel in the series, “Standing Wave”, is due for release in October, 2014.

Get the book from Amazon.