Maintenon Mysteries

The Handbag's Tale is a highly-stylized murder mystery. Readers will enjoy a rich vein of dark and sardonic humour. Nana the Snake Dancer, poets, painters, proprietors of bawdy houses, inept burglars, and Inspector Gilles Maintenon make an unforgettable tale of a classic time and place: It's Paris, 1924, at the height of party season.The short story that inspired the series. Look for 'Redemption: an Inspector Gilles Maintenon' mystery, as well as 'The Art of Murder,' and 'Blessed Are the Humble,' available at many fine online retailers. Louis Shalako is the founder of Long Cool One Books and the author of twenty-four novels, numerous novellas and other short stories. Louis studied Radio, Television and Journalism Arts at Lambton College of Applied Arts and Technology, later going on to study fine art. He began writing for community newspapers and industrial magazines over thirty years ago. His stories appear in publications including Perihelion Science Fiction, Bewildering Stories, Aurora Wolf, Ennea, Wonderwaan, Algernon, Nova Fantasia, and Danse Macabre. He lives in southern Ontario and writes full time. Louis enjoys cycling, swimming and good books.

Recently widowed and inspired by a boyhood fascination with Sherlock Holmes, the middle-aged Inspector Gilles Maintenon of the Surete is on a walking vacation of Dartmoor when he stumbles upon death in mysterious circumstances.When a plane crashes but the pilot has been dead just a little too long, Gilles becomes suspicious. When the woman he is falling in love with is brutally murdered, Gilles swears that he will never rest until the case is solved, the killer is caught, and justice is done. With a vein of dark humour running through it, the book deals with themes of loss, grief, remorse, and the unexpected consequences of the simplest choices. With one of the most original cave scenes in recent fiction, Louis Bertrand Shalako pulls out all the stops. Louis Shalako is the founder of Long Cool One Books and the author of twenty-four novels, numerous novellas and other short stories. Louis studied Radio, Television and Journalism Arts at Lambton College of Applied Arts and Technology, later going on to study fine art. He began writing for community newspapers and industrial magazines over thirty years ago. His stories appear in publications including Perihelion Science Fiction, Bewildering Stories, Aurora Wolf, Ennea, Wonderwaan, Algernon, Nova Fantasia, and Danse Macabre. He lives in southern Ontario and writes full time. Louis enjoys cycling, swimming and good books.

Inventor Theo Duval appeared to be having the perfect life. A locked room with the only key in the decedent's pocket, a book on hypnotism, and one very rich and very dead inventor, present Inspector Gilles Maintenon of the Surete with a problem. Why would a young, healthy, successful man, one with a beautiful fiance, and a thriving company ever want to kill himself?Mystery lovers will also enjoy 'Redemption: an Inspector Gilles Maintenon mystery,' and 'Blessed Are the Humble' as well as The Handbag's Tale, the original noir novella that inspired the series. Available at most major online retailers. Louis Shalako is the founder of Long Cool One Books and the author of twenty-four novels, numerous novellas and other short stories. Louis studied Radio, Television and Journalism Arts at Lambton College of Applied Arts and Technology, later going on to study fine art. He began writing for community newspapers and industrial magazines over thirty years ago. His stories appear in publications including Perihelion Science Fiction, Bewildering Stories, Aurora Wolf, Ennea, Wonderwaan, Algernon, Nova Fantasia, and Danse Macabre. He lives in southern Ontario and writes full time. Louis enjoys cycling, swimming and good books.

It was a crime of pure arrogance. Madame Muriel Ducharme was murdered in what looks like a break-in gone wrong. It's a little too pat for Inspector Gilles Maintenon. Nothing appears to have been taken, but the killer has thought of that too. Louis Shalako is the founder of Long Cool One Books and the author of twenty-four novels, numerous novellas and other short stories. Louis studied Radio, Television and Journalism Arts at Lambton College of Applied Arts and Technology, later going on to study fine art. He began writing for community newspapers and industrial magazines over thirty years ago. His stories appear in publications including Perihelion Science Fiction, Bewildering Stories, Aurora Wolf, Ennea, Wonderwaan, Algernon, Nova Fantasia, and Danse Macabre. He lives in southern Ontario and writes full time. Louis enjoys cycling, swimming and good books.

Crime author Aldrich Tobias, the man the critics love to hate, sits in La Prison Santé, awaiting the guillotine. He's been convicted of a series of sex-murders involving women and girls. The President of the Republic has asked Detective-Sergeant Gilles Maintenon to take another look into the case. There's not much physical evidence, just a few mirror-like resemblances to chapters from Tobias's published works. According to Aldrich Tobias, 'The artist is mad-always mad." Maintenon is about to find out what that really means. Louis Shalako is the founder of Long Cool One Books and the author of twenty-four novels, numerous novellas and other short stories. Louis studied Radio, Television and Journalism Arts at Lambton College of Applied Arts and Technology, later going on to study fine art. He began writing for community newspapers and industrial magazines over thirty years ago. His stories appear in publications including Perihelion Science Fiction, Bewildering Stories, Aurora Wolf, Ennea, Wonderwaan, Algernon, Nova Fantasia, and Danse Macabre. He lives in southern Ontario and writes full time. Louis enjoys cycling, swimming and good books.

To fall in love is to be young again. To count the cost is to die a little bit inside. In Speak Softly My Love, Inspector Gilles Maintenon goes out for a quart of milk and stumbles across a dead man. The trouble is, when the dead get up and walk away. They have one too many missing-person reports, too many wives, girlfriends and other mysterious blondes.Enticing as it is, Gilles has a heavy court schedule. Without a body and a firm identification, what can they really do? It's a time of budget restraint and limited resources-and the work keeps piling up.The suave but inexperienced Detective Hubert, and the raw but persistent Detective Tailler must handle the case. All Maintenon can do is keep his mouth shut and let them give it a shot.In this, the fifth in the noir Inspector Gilles Maintenon Mystery Series, author Louis Shalako transports the reader into the gritty reality of murder in Paris, 1931. An unforgettable mystery, one that is dark, witty and entertaining. Louis Shalako is the founder of Long Cool One Books and the author of twenty-four novels, numerous novellas and other short stories. Louis studied Radio, Television and Journalism Arts at Lambton College of Applied Arts and Technology, later going on to study fine art. He began writing for community newspapers and industrial magazines over thirty years ago. His stories appear in publications including Perihelion Science Fiction, Bewildering Stories, Aurora Wolf, Ennea, Wonderwaan, Algernon, Nova Fantasia, and Danse Macabre. He lives in southern Ontario and writes full time. Louis enjoys cycling, swimming and good books.

Opera star Largo Banzini is killed by a dart from a blowgun at the end of Act One of The Golden Dragon. It's an impossible crime, and Inspector Gilles Maintenon, who lost his wife Ann only a short time ago, has been a bit off lately. They have two thousand witnesses, all kinds of political pressure, too many people with some kind of a motive, and not enough real information. He's also a pretty good teacher, and the bright young Constable Louis Bedard has been assigned to the case. Somebody sees something in this young man, who has enough seniority to write the sergeant's exam. He has ideas, if only he can overcome a basic shyness. If he does well, there's no need to go back to traffic duties and foot patrols. This is the seventh volume in The Inspector Gilles Maintenon Mystery Series. Louis Shalako is the founder of Long Cool One Books and the author of twenty-four novels, numerous novellas and other short stories. Louis studied Radio, Television and Journalism Arts at Lambton College of Applied Arts and Technology, later going on to study fine art. He began writing for community newspapers and industrial magazines over thirty years ago. His stories appear in publications including Perihelion Science Fiction, Bewildering Stories, Aurora Wolf, Ennea, Wonderwaan, Algernon, Nova Fantasia, and Danse Macabre. He lives in southern Ontario and writes full time. Louis enjoys cycling, swimming and good books.

Inspector Gilles Maintenon has finally run up against an original mind-someone who's very good at wasting his time. A young bank employee is found dead in a vault that shows every sign of having been robbed. The premier Paris branch of Crédit Lyonnais holds ten or twenty million francs on a busy day. Then there's the safety-deposit boxes. A proper investigation takes time. The police are nothing if not predictable in their procedures. But that other mind has already gone down that road. They've had plenty of time to think it through. Their killer, using simple human psychology, has come up with a brilliant plan. Gilles would dearly love to meet the mind that conceived of that plan. He intends to do just that.Mystery fans are sure to enjoy How to Rob a Bank, the sixth volume in Louis Shalako's Inspector Gilles Maintenon Mystery Series. Louis Shalako is the founder of Long Cool One Books and the author of twenty-four novels, numerous novellas and other short stories. Louis studied Radio, Television and Journalism Arts at Lambton College of Applied Arts and Technology, later going on to study fine art. He began writing for community newspapers and industrial magazines over thirty years ago. His stories appear in publications including Perihelion Science Fiction, Bewildering Stories, Aurora Wolf, Ennea, Wonderwaan, Algernon, Nova Fantasia, and Danse Macabre. He lives in southern Ontario and writes full time. Louis enjoys cycling, swimming and good books.

Investigating the bow and arrow murder of Marko Dubzek at a naturist park just south of town presents Inspector Gilles Maintenon with a pretty pickle indeed. There are no suspects, no one saw or heard a thing and Dubzek has a bit of a past with the police. Death is a many-splendored thing, and in the end, it's always the one you least suspect. The eighth in Louis Shalako's The Inspector Gilles Maintenon Mystery Series, this intriguing noir mystery will not disappoint. Louis Shalako is the founder of Long Cool One Books and the author of twenty-four novels, numerous novellas and other short stories. Louis studied Radio, Television and Journalism Arts at Lambton College of Applied Arts and Technology, later going on to study fine art. He began writing for community newspapers and industrial magazines over thirty years ago. His stories appear in publications including Perihelion Science Fiction, Bewildering Stories, Aurora Wolf, Ennea, Wonderwaan, Algernon, Nova Fantasia, and Danse Macabre. He lives in southern Ontario and writes full time. Louis enjoys cycling, swimming and good books.