Fat Farm

(2nd Edition)

Novelist Richard Livingstone is a jerk. He hates people and sees them only for what he can take from them. Besides eating food, his only pleasure in life is writing stories, but Richard has not published a book in years. When his wealthy wife Suzette threatens to divorce him because he has let his health deteriorate by gaining fifty pounds since losing his day job at the bank, Richard must agree to enter a weight management clinic if he wants to stay married to her, or he could refuse her demand and become penniless. But the Baines Clinic is no ordinary health spa. Upon his arrival, Richard notices something is wrong. From its eerie castle-like appearance to its army of ferocious Dobermans to the electrical fence surrounding it and the creepy graveyard outside its doors, not to mention its ghoulish head nurse and its insane head doctor with a penchant for performing experimental surgeries, it’s clear the Baines Clinic is hardly concerned with making people better. Eventually, Richard realizes he will lose more than just weight if he doesn’t escape this hotel of horrors. Can he learn to work with others to save his life, or will Richard be another nameless number that checks in but never checks out of the Baines Clinic? Horror. Available in paperback or Kindle eBook.

The Krakatoa Crisis

Hillside Academy for International Students is not what it seems. International criminals send their children to the prestigious school, not to study but to discretely trade secrets in a world under constant surveillance. Rife with skullduggery and international intrigue, the school is a playground for the world's top criminal minds. Sadly, Hillside's most respected faculty member, Dr. Crenshaw, a teacher of Latin, has suddenly died from a heart attack. And it couldn't have happened at a more opportune time for the CIA, as a Russian asset at the school is negotiating an arms deal with a resurgent ISIS group in Northern Syria; the deal has to be stopped to keep the Middle East from further instability, taking Turkey with it. In a desperate move, the CIA has to send an agent to Hillside to stifle the arms deal. But not just anyone. They need someone who can teach Latin and only Agent Rusty Savoy, former Cold Warrior and meticulous digital forensics expert, can do it because he's the CIA's only agent who still speaks the ancient language.  Problem is Rusty just wants to retire and read his Latin classics, but international crime never retires and his country needs him to infiltrate the school. However, what Rusty and the CIA soon discover is that the world is in more danger than they previously thought.  Now available in paperback at Amazon.com.

Mark The Con

Millions of sports fans have always wondered what ever happened to the most famous baseball in history, Bobby Thomson’s 1951 pennant-winning home run baseball known as “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World.” No one has seen the priceless ball since Thomson hit it almost seventy years ago. On the black market, it is considered “The Holy Grail of Sports Memorabilia,” and memorabilia hunters will do anything to get their hands on it. Other than its owner, no one but con artist extraordinaire Sir Mark Wellington knows the whereabouts of the famous baseball. However, in the sleepy town of Stirling River, NJ, Wellington is murdered by one of his con artist cronies one night while aboard The Stirling River Queen, a ship that provides local historical tours. Now, the con artist who killed Wellington may also know who currently owns the ball. Unfortunately for the murderer, world-weary, amateur sleuth, Professor Stas Stiglitz, who has been avoiding his demons, is mysteriously invited to give a historical tour aboard "The Queen" on the night the murder takes place. Stiglitz must join Wellington’s crew of con artists and help them lift the most famous baseball of all time if he is to figure out who killed Wellington. The murder investigation is just what Stas needs, so he can narrate the events of his bizarre investigation to his therapist, Natalia, to deflect focus on his problems. Meanwhile, in a faraway, upstate New York hospital, octogenarian Jimmy Donnell has been keeping a secret for seventy years and is ready to tell the truth to his daughter, Jennifer. In his last moments of lucidity, Jimmy recalls his days as the batboy for the New York Giants during their “miracle” 1951 season and reveals the location of Thomson’s ball to Jennifer, who may become the mark in Stas’ first con scheme. Mystery/Historical Fiction.

Available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle eBook.

Hamilton: A Community Theater Play (that goes horribly wrong) & Other Stories

Having won the lottery and with no job to speak of, Professor Stas Stiglitz uses his amateur sleuthing skills and knowledge of Stirling River's history to solve impossible crimes from the past. In "Salute!" a man, sitting alone in his fishing boat, is murdered in the middle of a calm river while a crowd of people witnesses it from the shore. In "The Grandson of Time," a lost picture capturing a murder scene from 100 years ago captures Stas's attention. "In Need of a Crime" is about an illiterate immigrant who confesses to knowing about a vicious crime that took place decades ago. "Wainwright Done Wrong" tells the story of the slain Wainwright clan, a family living in a nearby ghost town. In "The 'Departing' Gift," a deliciously evil schoolmarm gets her just desserts. Finally, "Moses in a Chiffon Head Scarf" tells the story of a daring jailhouse escape in front of a rowdy mob of angry protesters. The two things needed to solve these crimes? Time and patience for details, two things that Professor Stas Stiglitz has in abundance. Of course, that is not to say that Stas is immune from finding himself mixed up in crimes that are happening in real-time. In "Hunting Orion," a loathsome hunter becomes the hunted. In "Summer Break," we meet a tourist who knows more about a particular crime than he is willing to disclose to the police or his family. "Hamilton, a Community Theater Play (that goes horribly wrong)" is precisely that. When Stas and Detective Dietrich witness a crime before their eyes, they soon realize that nothing on the surface can be believed in Stirling River. Mystery / Story Collection.

Available at Amazon.com in paperback or eBook, and in hardcover at Lulu Independent Bookstore.