Cozy Mystery
The Accused Architect. Ken “Cannoli” Knoll is just your average architect. Not a detective. That is, until his young assistant Edison returns from a routine job inspection of one of the firm’s buildings with startling news. There’s a dead homeless man at the construction site. Ken is aghast when he learns Edison has taken it upon himself to remove the body and load it into one of the firm’s trucks. Before Edison can spirit the body away, a couple of the firm’s top brass show up for a tour of the site and he isn’t able to put his plan in motion. Edison informs Ken another of the firm’s architect’s absconded with the truck while it was unattended, only to have it break down on the road, eventually ending up in the shop. When Ken finally catches up with the truck, the body has disappeared.
Civic Center Corpse. Architect Ken “Cannoli” Knoll’s world is turned upside down when the sign on his new project, the Neumann Auditorium, plunges from the building, killing Jerome Newmann, the businessman who donated $3 million to the project. Cannoli’s boss dispatches him to prove that the firm’s design was not at fault. Cannoli is appalled to find his old college classmate turned investigative reporter, Shirley Hanson, poking around. She is there at every step of the investigation, a thorn in Cannoli’s side, looking for the dirt and the killer as he seeks to solve the murder.
Find out more about the world of Ken Knoll at kenknollmystery.com.
The next book in the series, Blood on the Balustrade, is currently in progress. Look for it in 2027!
Fiction
In November Road by Lou Berney, a loyal lieutenant to a mob boss is on the run. The lieutenant, Frank Guidry, knows too much about the assassination of President JFK. People with ties to his mob boss are turning up dead, and Frank suspects he’s next. He hits the road for Las Vegas to seek help from one of his boss’ enemies. On the way, he encounters a woman at the side of the road with a broken-down car, two young daughters, and a dog. He figures traveling with them will be a perfect disguise. The trip with this faux family and hit men on his trail make a fascinating read.
My short story, Telling Blake, is about a grown daughter who agrees to be the surrogate child-bearer for her mother. Her mother subsequently, unexpectedly, dies. The daughter delivers the boy, Blake, and raises him as her own. Blake is seven when she discovers she’s pregnant by her boyfriend. She realizes it’s time to tell Blake the truth. It was a semi-finalist in Summer Literary Seminars contest.
In my current project, Easy Like Dying, office environments creator Finch is captivated by Annie, a brilliant industrial designer whose sense of life sparks intense emotions in him. When she becomes a co-worker, their chemistry is undeniable. But the ground keeps shifting under their feet as they navigate failed relationships and emotional entanglements. Soon, murders of those close to Annie, including her fiancé, draw them toward danger. When they fear Annie’s brother is next, she and Finch must confront their feelings and work together to stop a murderer before tragedy strikes again.
Easy Like Dying illustrates what happens when two people belong together yet everything in their world, including a serial killer, is against them. I am currently seeking representation for this novel.