National Network for Equitable Library Service

<p>Winner, 35th International 3-Day Novel Contest </p> <p>Jack Minyard is a private eye down on his luck. He’s badly overweight and on the wrong side of sixty. He’s lost his marriage, and maybe a little of his mind, too. After narrowly escaping charges in a statewide fraud and money laundering scandal, Jack has been working private contracts and counting on the kindness of strangers (not to mention a pile of prescription drugs) to get by.

In Bad Date, crime journalist Jane Yeats is on the scene again full of her trademark smart-ass attitude and fondness for Irish ale. Jane is thrust headlong into an unsolicited investigation of a string of unsolved sex-trade mysteries.

A motorbike-riding business writer is asked to investigate the death of a tycoon in the first of a new mystery series featuring the irreverent Jane Yeats, a still-grieving widow who smokes and sometimes drinks too much.

Sometimes, the only way to get through life is to escape into a good book. For Phoebe Hecht, that means a good mystery. And this summer, Phoebe really needs to escape. She’s spent the past school year in a new city, with a new step-dad, trying to figure out why her mom is so ashamed of their past. Even her new best friend, Yuri, has deserted her to go to Tokyo for the summer. As a result, Phoebe has had to pull out the big guns to keep herself busy – the classic detective novels of Agatha Christie.

The fifth book in a highly successful series, The Butterfly Effect takes detective Helen Keremos to Japan. There she becomes involved in a complex series of crimes that have ramifications from the Far East to Europe and North America.

When Pia Keyne, a feisty political reporter, becomes entertainment editor at a large urban newspaper she finds herself embroiled in the vicious murder of a high-profile politician. Pia quickly uncovers sexual overtones to the killing, as well as a possible cover-up of Nazi stolen art. The ink might just run red when Pia’s involvement draws the attention of the murderer. And will she be putting her life at risk? Or just her heart… What starts out as a simple headline story quickly turns into something more dangerous.

In a deadly game of multinational terrorism, detective Helen Keremos searches for a long-lost 60s revolutionary who happens to be the daughter of a right-wing U.S. presidential candidate. The Keremos mysteries was one of the first lesbian detective series

Born in China, Nicki was abandoned to an orphanage before being adopted by a wealthy North American family. Now 16, Nicki divides her time between Hawaii and Ontario and is all set to train with a king fu grand master. When she reports to his studio, she finds him stabbed and near death. As he lapses into a coma, he begs her to find a priceless Ming dynasty vase that she discovers has once belonged to Pu Yi, the Boy Emperor.

Eve Zaremba places her street-smart heroine as the head of security in a large, urban condominium. It seems like an easy way to make a living to Helen; that is, until the body of an environmental activist turns up...

Private investigator Dan Sharp finds himself caught up in a political murder. When the husband of a Queen’s Park aide runs off to escape his gambling debts, private investigator Dan Sharp is hired to track him down. As the city’s political landscape verges on the bizarre — with a crack-using mayor and a major scandal looming — Dan finds himself pitted against a mysterious figure known for making or breaking the reputations of upcoming politicians. It’s not until a body turns up on his doorstep that Dan realizes he’s being punished for sticking his nose into dirty politics.