New! Chelmin and Spaulding CID (Criminal Investigation Division) Mysteries

The first book in the series is available now!

M-9
A Chelmin and Spaulding CID Mystery

Who killed Kendra Farrell and left her bound, dehydrated body on a boxcar loaded with Army boots?

Army CID agents Rudy Chelmin and his rookie partner, Will Spaulding, trace the train’s route back to Barstow, CA, and the Marine Corps Supply Depot. Before they can begin a joint-service investigation, they come under attack by a determined and heavily armed international gang. As they try to unwrap the mystery of Kendra’s death they must take out a sniper, escape from an RPG attack that levels a city block, and dodge a car bomb—and that’s just the first few days.

To find Kendra’s killer they must learn why she was killed. As they unravel a mind-twisting snarl of nefarious, intertwined networks, they must also battle the bureaucracy—The FBI, Homeland Security, and the Barstow police want their share of the case.

Then Chelmin vanishes and Spaulding has only three days to learn if his partner will suffer Kendra’s agonizing fate.

"Strange circumstances throw together a detective duo in this riveting, complex tale."
-- Kirkus Reviews

Buy Now

Read More

Early Reviews

THE RABBI BEN MYSTERIES

Just Published!

Bride of Finkelstein
Rabbi Ben Mystery #4

He's not your Zayde's rebbe!
Rabbi Ben takes on Chicagoland Crimelords and gets in cold water.
Lots of cold, deep water.
Not that this stops a nice Jewish boy who knows Taekwando.

Paperback published September 6, 2020. Kindle eBook coming October 13!

Read more   ꟾ   Buy Now

---

For Whom the Shofar Blows
Rabbi Ben Mystery #1

Something isn’t kosher in Burbank. First, huge sums appear, then vanish from a little-used congregational bank account. Next, a body turns up in an unsold cemetery plot. And then the congregation’s beloved secretary is brutally murdered. Enter Rabbi Ben, roving troubleshooter, master of Taekwondo and Talmud, an M.I.T. computer whiz who seemingly walks through walls—and a man with his own bag of secrets. The High Holidays are just around the corner—so what could possibly go wrong? Ben’s investigation leads him to a decrepit cemetery, an opaquely mysterious private bank, a shofar-blowing, part-Korean cabinet-maker, a ruthless gang-banger, and the ultimate in money laundering techniques. Along the way this heroic-but-very human character survives a hit-and-run murder attempt, defuses a bomb in his living room and wriggles out of his intended early grave. This terrific, twisting plot and compelling, finely-drawn characters are accessible to every reader. You don’t have to be Jewish to be enthralled by Rabbi Ben’s audacity, inventiveness and courage.

Read More  ꟾ  Reviews  ꟾ  Buy Now  

---

A Scribe Dies In Brooklyn
Rabbi Ben Mystery #2

Missing for more than half a century, a fragment of the world’s oldest Hebrew Bible codex, a unique and priceless religious artifact, surfaces after the death of a reclusive Brooklyn businessman—and is immediately stolen.  Hired to find the long-lost pages, Rabbi Ben battles a mysterious gang of thieves who will stop at nothing to get the codex.  
 
Immersed in the superstitious and almost medieval society of Syrian Jewish immigrants, Ben unmasks a serial swindler, restores a clan's honor, returns a stolen identity and solves a decades-old series of unsuspected murders. Along the way, he meets the woman of his dreams and then must walk through fire to save her.

Read More   ꟾ  Reviews  ꟾ  Buy Now

---

A Tale of Two Rabbis
Rabbi Ben Mystery #3

Arriving in Pittsburgh to participate in  a year-long medical trial, Ben soon meets a married couple—a nurse practitioner and her wife, a cop. They ask him to help find their missing rabbi, who seems to have overstayed a brief vacation. Prodded by Miryam, his fiancée, Ben reluctantly agrees to help but soon begins to suspect that the man he seeks is neither missing nor a rabbi. Delving deeper, dead bodies begin to pile up as Ben encounters a series of thugs attempting to stop or kill him. His investigation turns into a fiendish hall of funhouse mirrors, where little is what it seems and there is no way out. 

Read More ꟾ  Reviews  ꟾ  Buy Now