Adult books

A Dying Fall Volume 2 The  Shakespeare Murders

Description

When the AWB Theatre troupe accepts an invitation to perform on the tropical island of Illyria, they get more than they bargained for. Sudden death. Many of them. When one of their own troupe is killed, however, Mark Louis, company member and amateur detective, has to first determine whether the supposed accident really was an accident. Mark concludes otherwise, but the actors must return home to New York, forcing Mark to conduct his investigation a thousand miles from the crime. Can he possibly bring a killer to justice from such a distance away?

A Spider Steeped  Volume 4   The Shakespeare Murders

Description

           Mark Louis and Kristy King become involved with murder when they visit Erin Blakely, a college friend of Kristy’s whom she hasn’t seen in half-a-dozen years. The murder occurs right after Jeremy Casterbridge, an old college boyfriend of Erin’s, shows up, newly released from prison, and claiming to be the father of Erin’s daughter Raven. Mark, Kristy, Erin and Jeremy are swept up in the aftermath of the terrible crime. Erin moves to New York, and Mark invites her to join the AWB Theatre Company, but Jeremy shows up again. Hoping to uncover the truth about Erin’s tangled life, Mark and Kristy investigate Erin’s past and present, turning her from a friend into an enemy. What they find reinforces their belief that love does conquer all—or at least it tries its best to.

A Summer Murder

Description

Eileen Meredith, the blonde beauty of the summer. A young woman to die for? No, a young woman to be murdered.

A group of young men rents downstairs while a group of young women rents upstairs in a New Jersey beach house for the summer of 1971. One of the girls, Eileen Meredith, is found murdered in her bedroom at the house. Local Detective Hanahan, on the verge of retirement and needing a murder case like he needs a hole in the head, takes over the case. Things ebb and flow as suspects arise and excite the detective's interest. At last, with the help of one of the house's inhabitants, a strange plan takes shape to draw out the murderer. Will it succeed?

Ant-nee's Golden Notebook

Description

Mayhem and mix-ups follow Bruno Brunotaglia's murder of a hit man sent after him by a rival mob. Panic stricken, Bruno leaves behind a briefcase full of money and an important notebook. Two down-and-out friends find the briefcase and notebook, and Bruno needs them back before his father, head of the Philly mob, blows a gasket. Will Richard get to keep the briefcase of money he found with Strangler and the Indian hard on his trail? Can Clarence make hay from the information in the notebook? It's a battle of half-wits in this deadly game of hide and seek.

Beckoning Eternity

Description

The culture of Guardon, a planet severe in its religious beliefs, faces upheaval due to a corps of rebels, who believe that the planet's religion simply masks the corruption and self-interest of those in power.

Branson Carmody Man of the West

Description

In the annals of the West, there are many disreputable characters, criminals who cared for nothing more than their own welfare. But there were also many good people, those who desired to improve their own lives and the lives of others. A small group, however, inhabited the gray area between the world of right and wrong. Occasionally, some of those famed on one side of the law stepped over to the other side for purposes of well or ill.

Branson Carmody: Man of the West is a tale of how the fates of two men become intertwined over a number of years through meetings and encounters that always get left unfinished. Just as one tries to escape the shadow of his past, the other is determined to resurrect it. So connected are their paths that they're bound to cross again, sometime and somewhere. When they finally do, it'll mean a closure for both, but only one will live to realize it.

There are times when moving to the right side can be just as dangerous as staying on the wrong.

From Out the Shadowed Night

Description

How far would you go to achieve revenge? Brian Martin committed an unspeakable crime and managed to escape responsibility for his act. Now, sixteen years later, not only do the effects of his crime rise up out of the past, but something much more deadly begins to haunt him as well.

Henny and Lloyd Fight Crime

Description

Henny and Lloyd crack four new cases as only they can. A ride up the Jersey Turnpike, an airplane crash, a collection of turtles, and a broken heart combine for murder. How can this be, you wonder. Who can unravel such a mixed-up conglomeration of events? Henny and Lloyd; that’s who. No matter how bizarre the circumstances, our sharp as tacks private eyes work their way to a solution. How about the case of a runaway teenage girl who shows up two decades later to claim her father’s inheritance? Or does she? Who is this tattooed woman who suddenly appears and says, “Give me!” Henny and Lloyd will find out. Or what about the mystical swami from the Far East whose track record of forecasting the future is impeccable. How does he do it? Henny and Lloyd would like to know that too and set about invoking a little mysticism of their own to find out. And finally, a self-proclaimed war hero, sets his sights on a New York City Council seat, while his old service commander, whom he despises, sets his sights on the mayoralty. One is tinder and the other is a spark. What could go wrong? Lots. When it does, Henny and Lloyd are on the spot.

Henny and Lloyd Private Eyes

Description

Henny and Lloyd, age mid-twenties, have completed their online course in private detecting and are now licensed PIs. They’ve found an office on Centre Street in downtown NYC, a rundown apartment each in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and set out to make their dreams of crime-fighting come true. Henny especially loves the noir 1940s crime era and dresses the part. Double-breasted suits, fedora, toothpicks replacing the more lethal cigarettes of the era. Lloyd is equally dedicated, if less flamboyant. Attaining his current situation is especially gratifying to Lloyd since he had little encouragement from his family. When he told his father he planned to become a dick, his father replied that the only way he’d become a dick was if he changed his name to Richard. Lloyd was thankful the comment wasn’t any worse. Enjoy their first six cases as they set out to tackle crime in New York City.

Henny and Lloyd's Biggest Cases

Description

Henny and Lloyd have settled into their dream jobs. Private eyes. Their careers have gotten off to a solid start, and they solved some tricky mysteries, but now some doozies come their way. An innocent request to accompany a young lady on a trip to visit college friends turns into a suspenseful hunt for a murderer. A seemingly easy assignment to guard a valuable Victorian Charles Dickens themed music box turns into a frantic hunt to find a murderer. A fretful request by a grandfather to help separate his granddaughter from a man not worth her time leads Henny and Lloyd into an intricate web of family tension and murder. A boxer goes missing on the eve of his challenge for the middleweight championship of the world, and Henny and Lloyd are hired to find him and get him to Madison Square Garden. Or else. Follow the adventures of two crack detectives, with a side dish of crime noir. Join the boys in their exciting, off-kilter adventures and watch them succeed where few others in their line of work could ever hope to.

Henny and Lloyd's Casebook

Description

A murder in a flower shop sends Henny and Lloyd on a not-so-merry chase into the mysterious family dynamics of a clan who live by their own rules. But nothing is too bizarre for Henny and Lloyd. Noses to the grindstone they follow the clues and shock even themselves when they lay bare the facts of the matter and uncover the events that led to the murder in the flower shop. Then they are hired by a nine-year-old girl who plops her piggy bank on Lloyd’s desk and describes her problem. Our heroes take her case, which proves to be anything but childish, and in this instance, do a family some good. As that escapade comes to a close, an old man totters into the office of Henny and Lloyd and begs them to take on an assignment they realize has no chance of coming to a happy conclusion. Yet, they agree to help the old man and see the mystery through to its end, whether to a happy conclusion or otherwise, time will tell.

Hobson's Planet

Description

When Culp arrives on the Hobson’s Planet, he steps into a whirlwind of controversy and political upheaval. Against his will, Culp finds himself the designated savior to another planet. Having failed on Earth, he wants no part of another such quest. Now he must decide where his duty and his heart lie.

Lanyon for Hire

Description

Three of Lanyon's adventures as an intergalactic gun-for-hire in the 23rd century. Meet Honna, a beautiful Malcosian woman with a long and gorgeous tail; Jophena, an 11-year-old with a spunky attitude; and Predamor, a Malcosian fellow who gets Lanyon into as much trouble as they both can handle.

Lanyon for Hire (Vol 2): Nemesis

Description

Lanyon runs into trouble when he tries to keep a crucial memory disc out of the hands of a ruthless band of blackmailers.  If that isn’t bad enough, Jophena, an eleven-year-old Selenian girl and Lanyon’s traveling companion, turns what Lanyon expects to be a simple chore into an all out war.  Just when he thinks everything might turn out all right, the Vermenian blackmailers return to exact a vicious revenge on Lanyon.

Lanyon for Hire (Vol 3): Vengeance

Description

Follow Lanyon as he attacks a planet-wide drug ring; joins up with his twelve-year-old Selenian friend Jophena to rescue a team of scientists from Tellurian marauders; and seeks vengeance on those responsible for the death of Honna, his Malcosian lover.

Lanyon for Hire (Vol 4): Contagion

Description

What Lanyon hopes will be a simple trip to transport a prisoner who has been giving the Malcosian government trouble ends up in a deadly game of hide-and-seek after his scout cruiser is forced to crash land by the prisoner’s allies. Help comes from two very unlikely sources, but will their help be enough to get Lanyon out of some of the deepest trouble he has yet encountered? In the midst of his own problems, the life of Jophena, Lanyon’s 12-year-old Selenian friend, hangs by a thread at the mercy of Tellurians. Can Lanyon hold his own problems at bay long enough to get Jophena to safe ground?

Lanyon for Hire (Vol 5): Deception

Description

Lanyon takes on the job of recovering a shipment of rators, weapons imported from Earth, which have gone missing from the spaceport. A not-so-merry chase begins as Lanyon has trouble detecting the true trail to follow from the false. Jophena, his 12-year-old friend from Selenia, tags along and the complications multiply. The Malcosian Over-minister then hires Lanyon to track down his daughter Meihon again, but Tellurians will have something to say about whether Meihon gets back home or not, and Lanyon soon regrets his decision to take on the assignment.

Lanyon for Hire (Vol 6): Retribution

Description

Lanyon For Hire: No job is too tough to solve, no matter how many people get hurt.

They say most murders occur within families. Lanyon finds out how true that is as he steps into three family feuds that turn deadly quickly.

Lanyon for Hire (Vol 7): Treachery

Description

Lanyon, everyone's favorite interplanetary gun-for-hire, is back in three exciting adventures.

Assassinations, kidnapping, and a diabolical plot set off by a former friend. Lanyon will need to be at the top of his game to come out of this alive.

Oliver Muncing Exorcist

Description

Six edge-of-your-seat tales of the supernatural.

When a catastrophic invasion by elementals from “the other side” kills Oliver’s grandfather and leaves Oliver crippled, he chooses to dedicate his life to investigating other-worldly phenomena, especially the nature of elementals, the evil force which sent him on his life’s work.

Prayer Preyer

Description

Fifty years of obstacles have kept Jerry Curtis from locating Father Lockhart. Now, he’s found the priest and is determined to take his revenge for the crime committed against him all those years ago.

The Adventures of the Lone Ranger

Description

     Six Texas Rangers enter Bryant's Gap in pursuit of the Butch Cavendish Gang. Only one Ranger survives.
      The Lone Ranger and his loyal companion Tonto are on a quest to track down and bring to justice all five members of the outlaw Cavendish Gang, one by one. Along the way, they discover their help is need in righting so many more wrongs than they expect.
       The duo finds themselves assisting a young man wrongfully accused of crime, coming to the aid of a close friend of the Ranger's when he is targeted by bushwhackers intent on robbery, and helping to quell an Indian uprising. They deal with the kidnapping of a young woman, the lynching of a former slave, and a dishonest banker foreclosing a mortgage. All in the name of justice, and all leading to a return to Bryant's Gap for a final confrontation with Butch Cavendish.
       John Paulits's original portrayal of a timeless character is an action filled wild west adventure revealing new details on how The Lone Ranger got his name, his meeting with Tonto, the origin of his silver bullets, and the reason he wears the famous mask.
       Who is that masked man?

The Collected Short Stories

Description

A man buried alive; the extinction of a gloried species; the mingling of interstellar races; a mysterious amulet; a fearful child; an animal-loving old hag; the assassination of the Almighty. 21 stories of horror, mystery, fantasy, and science fiction certain to raise the hairs on your neck.

HORROR

The Brunton Hag

The Amulet

The Small Voice

The Phantom Child

When the Guest Arrives

Only a Shadow

The Crone of Pitcairn Manor

Paternity

The Burial

FANTASY

To the Rescue

The Best-Laid Plans

Born Again

A Day at the Circus

The Final Bullet

Bernadette

The Dungeon

SCIENCE FICTION

Stellamon

Tabula Rasa

MYSTERIES

Henny and Lloyd’s First Case

Murder at the American Club

Belling the Cat

The Lone Ranger Rides Again

Description

The masked man and his loyal sidekick are in pursuit of two bank robbers when a murder occurs that they believe could be connected to the men they're after. In the victim's last words, he mentions something about a black star, and hints that it has to do with the cause of his death.
The Ranger and Tonto's investigation leads them to a town where people are forced to make a monthly purchase of a card bearing a black star on it, and any who don't are in danger. While still tracking the bank robbers, the duo aims to reveal the elusive identity of whoever is behind the black star before any more innocent people get hurt.
Ride along with our heroes as they find out what became of a missing treasure stolen from a church twenty years ago, assist an aging gunslinger whose nemesis has returned to lure him back into his old ways, and help a local sheriff solve a mystery behind the sudden shooting of a ranch owner.
In his second portrayal of a timeless character, John Paulits delivers a classic western adventure as the saga of The Lone Ranger continues!

The Mystery of Charles Dickens: A Tale of Mesmerism and Murder

Description

History records that on June 9, 1870, Charles Dickens died of a cerebral haemorrhage. History, however, is wrong. June 9, 1870, is the day on which Emile de la Rue murdered Charles Dickens. During a stay in Genoa in 1844-45, Charles Dickens, an accomplished mesmerist, used his mesmeric abilities to treat a young Englishwoman, Augusta de la Rue, attempting to cure a years' long malady of hers that included facial spasms and phantom-filled dreams. During her trances she revealed to Dickens a truth she had long suppressed--the knowledge that her husband murdered a rival so he could have her for himself. Dickens, at that time, was helpless to act on the devastating admission, but twenty-five years later Emile de la Rue shows up in London, and Dickens finally seeks justice. De La Rue cannot let this happen and stops at nothing to keep Dickens from revealing his secret.

The Rest is Silence Volume 1  The Shakespeare Murders

Description

THE REST IS SILENCE

The director of the AWB Theatre Company, Lawrence Mickelman, has alienated everyone in sight with his tyrannical manner. When his body is found in the locked Bouwerie Lane Theatre, a sword from Hamlet in his chest, the troupe’s owner asks Mark Louis, one of the actors, to dig a little deeper than she thinks the police will. The police investigation points toward Don Lovett, the play’s Hamlet, but Mark’s suspicions turn elsewhere. As the police prepare to arrest Don, Mark must bring the murderer out into the open before the killer strikes again.

The Sad Case of Brownie Terwilliger

Description

Brownie Terwilliger looks at his opportunity to run for mayor of Philadelphia as a chance to right the wrongs of a city. He hopes to oust Milton Streezo, the incumbent, but Streezo does not take kindly to this challenge and concocts a plan to destroy Brownie, even hiring Lunky Ledbetter, famed perpetrator of dirty political tricks. Can Brownie withstand the onslaught? Will he have the opportunity to do some good in the world? Don’t bet on it.

To Prove a Villain  Volume 3  The Shakespeare Murders

Description

When Mark Louis investigates the hit-and-run death of the brother of Kristy King, his live-in lover and colleague in their downtown, NYC acting troupe, it unexpectedly puts a fatal strain on their relationship. Kristy insists the death was an accident; Mark isn’t certain that’s true. The deeper he digs into the incident, the more he learns of Kristy’s background and the wider the gulf between them grows. Kristy’s mom gets involved and the problem only deepens. Mark’s suspicions prove to be accurate, and the price for his discovering the murderer, is a secret he needs to keep locked in his soul and which he will have to take to his grave.