Sam Blackman

"A wealth of historical detail, an exciting treasure hunt and credible characters distinguish this fresh, adventurous read." -Publishers Weekly STARRED review Sam Blackman is an angry man. A Chief Warrant Officer in the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the U.S. military, he lost a leg in Iraq. His outspoken criticism of his medical treatment resulted in his transfer to the Veteran's Hospital in Asheville, NC. Disillusioned with the military, grieving over the recent death of his parents, and at odds with his brother, Sam's life is in shambles. Then an ex-marine and fellow amputee named Tikima Robertson walks into his hospital room. Tikima hints she has an opportunity for Sam to use his investigative skills-if he can stop feeling sorry for himself. But before she can return, Tikima is murdered, her body found floating in the French Broad River. Sam was the last person to see her alive. Tikima's sister, Nakayla, brings Sam a journal she finds in Tikima's apartment. A note stuck to the inside cover reads "For Sam Blackman." The volume dates to 1919 and contains the entries of a twelve-year-old boy who accompanies his father, a white funeral director, as they help a black man, Elijah Robertson, transport his deceased relative from Asheville to a small family plot in Georgia. The link to the present? Nearly 90 years ago, Elijah's body was also found in the French Broad River, a crime foreshadowing the death of his great-great-granddaughter Tikima. Sam and Nakayla must delve into Asheville's rich history, the legacy of the Vanderbilts at the Biltmore estate, and of author Tom Wolfe to uncover the murderous truth.

Former Chief Warrant Officer Sam Blackman lost a leg in Iraq and emerged from the V.A. hospital in Asheville, NC, as a bitter civilian without a job or a future. But when he solved a series of local murders, Sam found new meaning for his life. Now he and his partner, Nakayla Robertson, are opening a detective agency. They have high hopes that the thriving mountain region will provide a steady stream of cases. Their first client, a quirky elderly woman in a retirement community, makes a strange request. She wants Sam to right a wrong she committed more than 70 years ago. Her victim: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Her crime: stealing a manuscript. Sam's task seems simple enough: retrieve the woman's lockbox and deliver the manuscript to Fitzgerald's heirs. But nothing is simple for Sam. The lockbox is sealed with a swastika, a symbol his client insists predates the Nazis and reflects a scene from The Great Gatsby. Then a security guard is killed and the lockbox disappears. Not only has this investigation triggered a murder, but Sam's final military case has followed him from Iraq and neither he nor anyone close to him is safe....

The summer of 1276 at Tyndal Priory is passing peacefully until a villager's corpse is found floating in the millpond. The murder victim, a newcomer, was greatly disliked in Tyndal. Yet no villager wants to see one of their own hanged for the deed. Fingers quickly point to a trio of Jewish refugees-husband, mother-in-law, and very pregnant wife-forced to take shelter while relocating under the provisions of King Edward's Statute of the Jewry. Riots loom; threats against the Jews mount. Eleanor and Ralf have little time to gather evidence before popular opinion rules the murder solved. But when the prioress' maid Gytha joins the suspect list, the inquiry takes an even more troubling turn. Murder investigations are always grim, but this one grows as ominous as a North Sea storm....

One woman dead, another missing-and time is running out Politically incorrect detective Andreas Kaldis, promoted out of Athens to serve as police chief for Mykonos, is certain his homicide investigation days are over. Murders don't happen in Greece's tourist heaven. At least that's what he's thinking as he stares at the remains of a young woman, ritually bound and buried on a pile of human bones inside a remote mountain church. Teamed with the nearly-retired local homicide chief, Andreas must find the killer before the world-wide media attention can destroy the Greek island's fabled reputation with rumors of a mystery that's haunted Mykonos for decades. When another young woman disappears, political niceties no longer matter. The murder mystery quickly becomes a rescue operation, and Andreas races against a killer intent on claiming a new victim... This high-stakes adventure introduces Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis, and begins a series perfect for armchair travelers interested in pairing the idyllic views of Greece with devious mysteries.

"Comic cozy meets crazed spy thriller in this debut novel short-listed for Britain's 2003 Crime Writer's Association Debut Dagger award."-Booklist Charley Van Leeuwen can tell by a man's kiss whether he's been drinking Taittinger or Veuve Clicquot. Not that she kisses many men, a fact her friends deplore. So imagine their surprise when she came home to San Francisco with a new husband. Jack Fairfax is the definition of tall, dark, and handsome. But is he a mild-mannered meteorologist as he claims? Sometime between finding a dead body in her bathtub, tagging along on a ransom drop, and getting rescued by her husband in a hail of bullets, Charley begins to suspect there's more to Jack's past than he's willing-or able-to admit. So, here's Charley, used to her money as a cushion, forced to protect her family and friends, and rushed to rescue her nonprofit repertory theater from artistic and financial ruin. If that means dealing with kidnappings, murders, bitter ex-boyfriends, out-of-control relatives, and vicious former spies-all while staging a play-well, nobody ever said marriage would be easy....

After a gruesome killing at the Carlton County, Kansas, livestock feedyard, Sheriff Sam Abbot, Undersheriff Lottie Albright, and her ranching husband deputy know their resources are over-stretched. Still, none of their team or neighboring law enforcement in Western Kansas welcomes the idea of a regional crime center. Kansas Bureau of Investigation Agent Dimon suggests the murder may not be a simple local affair. Unconvinced, Lottie- still director of the historical society-calls for stories from families whose ancestors were part of groups colonizing Kansas. Doña Francisca Díaz is the ancient head of one such clan. It turns out, Francisca's great grandson Victor was the murder victim. Francisca, a fabled curandera with terribly damaged hands, insists she knows why Victor was killed. The key, she claims, is in ancient documents. At Doña Francisca's invitation, Lottie visits the Díaz' property. In a drought-ridden area, the land is lush. Francisca wants Lottie to train as her heir. Reluctant yet fascinated, Lottie agrees. Will Lottie be lost in this maze of magic? Does this family and its secret hold the key to murder and other terrible crimes?

In this unusual spin on the classic spy novel, murder strikes from our wartime pasts… Iraq War veteran Sam Blackman with his prosthetic leg and his no-nonsense private eye partner Nakayla Robertson love their investigations which always carry a thread from the past―and they love each other. An interracial couple in the new South, the Asheville, NC, pair has surrounded themselves with a terrific support team including an unorthodox lawyer and a veteran cop. They deploy humor both to bind them together and to deflect insults. Plus, it helps deal with the tragedies their work uncovers. Such a tragedy interrupts a meeting between the PIs and the neighboring law office when a body is unearthed from the grounds of the nearby Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute. During the Cold War it monitored developing space programs. Today it plays a vital role gathering weather and climate data. The body has been in the ground a long time. Why would its discovery spark off a new murder in Asheville's mountain music scene, the victim found amid the garbage of dark, dank Rat Alley? She was the fiancée of the man murdered long ago. But surely this case is more than a domestic drama playing out over time…. The Blackman Agency Investigations excel at merging past and present, bringing little-known history to light, and are perfect for fans of James Lee Burke, Stephen Mack Jones, Margaret Maron, and Robert B. Parker.

The Society Scandal of the Season… Lady Adelaide Compton had prepared herself to say goodbye forever to Detective Inspector Devenand Hunter. It would be a welcome relief not to get mixed up in any more murders, even if it meant never working alongside the handsome detective again…wouldn't it? But then Addie's prim and proper mother, Constance, the Dowager Marchioness of Broughton, is accused of murdering her secret lover, and there can't be enough gentlemen detectives on hand to find the truth. The dead Duke of Rufford appeared to lead a blameless life, but appearances can be deceiving. And unless Addie and Dev work together, Constance will hang-which is no one's idea of a happy ending.