Carmine Delmonico Novels

It's a beautiful spring day in the little city of Holloman, Connecticut. The year is 1967, and the world teeters on the brink of nuclear holocaust as the Cold War goes relentlessly on. But Holloman has other things to worry about-on April 3, 1967, twelve murders have taken place on one day. Suddenly Captain Carmine Delmonico, chief of detectives, has other, more important matters to occupy him than finding a satisfactory name for his infant son. With his cohorts Abe Goldberg and Corey Marshall giving him unfailing support, Carmine embarks on what looks like an insoluble case. "A perfect read…The kind of book the world blockbuster was made." "The historical setting gives the novel a fresh feel, and it keeps readers off guard…A thoroughly entertaining crime novel." "Will be welcomed by readers who just love that creepy feeling…there's plenty of criminal insanity to go around."

The bestselling author of The Thorn Birds once again pits Captain Carmine Delmonico against a dangerous villain and a difficult case. Without the help of modern forensic tools, Captain Carmine Delmonico and his trusted detectives must restore peace to their small university town. It's 1968, and amid the new era of paranoia, Delmonico faces new challenges. Sex and greed dominate two new murder cases-and a series of rapes seems to escalate to murder. For Carmine, it seems to be a case with no clues. And it comes as the Holloman Police Department is in turmoil: a lieutenant is out of his depth, a sergeant is out of control, and into this mix comes the beautiful, ruthlessly ambitious new trainee, Helen McIntosh, daughter of the influential president of Chubb University. As the killer makes his plans, Carmine and his team must use every resource at their disposal-including a team of highly motivated local vigilantes… "Expert pacing is the key to Charles Leggett's reading of the third Carmine Delmonico mystery…He adds to the story's tension by drawing the scenes out slowly and then increasing his pace as the climax plays out." "Richly drawn…A very welcome return to basics in this high-tech, CSI era." "Leggett…keep[s] us immersed in this gripping novel."

When Chubb University biochemist Millie Hunter notices that a deadly neurotoxin is missing from her laboratory refrigerator, she immediately goes to her father, who is also CT's Chief Medical Examiner. They both know that the situation is grave; the poison shuts down the nervous system and is virtually impossible to stop. Soon, as bodies pile up and the coroner keeps pointing to the neurotoxin, Captain Carmine Delmonico must find the killer fast. Helped by his exotic and brilliant colleague Delia and his constant wife Desdemona (an excellent cook), Delmonico follows the trail no matter how close to home it may lead.

In the next installment of this "compelling, passionate, and gritty" (Daily Mail, London) suspense series, police captain Carmine Delmonico is on the trail of not one but two killers. It's August 1969 in the sleepy college town of Holloman, Connecticut, and police Captain Carmine Delmonico is away on vacation. Back at home, first one, then two anonymous male corpses turn up-emaciated and emasculated. After connecting the victims to four other bodies, Sergeant Delia Carstairs and Lieutenant Abe Goldberg realize that Holloman has a psychopathic killer on the loose. Luckily, Carmine decides to come back from vacation early. Carmine's team begins to circle a trio of eccentrics, who readily admit to knowing all the victims, but their stories keep changing. They share family ties, painful memories, and a dark past. One of them is a new friend of Sergeant Carstairs, as is the respected head of the mental hospital, who has been doing groundbreaking work rehabilitating one very difficult patient who is now her trusted assistant. When another vicious murder rocks Holloman, Carmine faces the revelation that two killers are at large with completely different modus operandi, even as he barely escapes being next in the body count. Suddenly, the summer isn't so sleepy. A riveting mystery series by an author of astounding range and skill, Colleen McCullough's Carmine Delmonico books take you back to an age of classic police work, before DNA analysis and computers. Sins of the Flesh is her finest work yet, pitting her beloved hero against every cop's nightmare scenario in a plot that turns on the sort of science that McCullough herself knows so well. "McCullough's fifth Captain Carmine Delmonico novel will be welcomed by readers who just love that creepy feeling…Fans should enjoy the precomputer, pre–cell phone police work." "Summertime is not so easy in 1969 Holloman, CT, as Capt. Carmine Delmonico returns from vacation to find he must hunt for a killer whose victims turn up emaciated and emasculated. Then murder of a different sort occurs, and Delmonico has two chaotic cases to handle. McCullough's pleasing series continues." "Of its many virtues (strong characters, realistic dialogue, smartly constructed stories), the Delmonico series' foremost selling point is its time and place: a small Connecticut town in the 1960s, well before modern-day, high-tech forensic investigative techniques existed. The book offers readers the chance to observe a murder investigation done the old-school way, without all the modern technological bells and whistles."