Private Eye Mysteries

Ex-police officer Joe Copp takes a case, and he's not even sure who he's working for. Surrounded by a cast of frightened actors, and the theater's gorgeous director, he's been assigned the role of bodyguard for the leading man.

This exciting collaborative by the Private Eye Writers of America and Sisters in Crime contains short stories by well-known mystery writers including Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton. The stories are presented in pairs, each linked to the other by a common theme or topic.

Chet Gecko loves a good mystery. Almost more than he loves his fee: stinkbug pie. So when fellow fourth grader Shirley Chameleon asks him to find her missing brother, Billy, Chet expects the case to be as easy as pie. But Billy's disappearance is part of a larger plot, one that involves the Rat...

It has been one hell of a fall from grace for former Homicide Detective Maxwell Floyd. He’s hit rock bottom. Broken, bleeding. It took only a New York minute to change his life forever — his marriage, career, and sobriety left to die in the aftermath. He thought he could still make a difference as a private eye, but all the alcohol in the world can’t keep the ghosts of his past from haunting him.

Most folks know him as the best lizard detective at Emerson Hicky Elementary, but it's not all knuckles and know-how with Chet Gecko. He's also got his artistic side. If it wasn't for his art, he might never have been sent to Principal Zero's office, where he stumbled onto the mystery of Mr...

Joe Copp, ex-cop, finds himself once again pulled into the down-and-dirty back streets of Los Angeles. His new case sends him into the back lots of Hollywood, behind the glamorous facade of the movie industry, where the subjects of a stakeout begin dying, one by one.

Former pro wrestler "Hammerhead" Jed Ounstead, now a fully fledged private investigator, is riding high after his first successful case. In this second episode, Jed leaves the wrestling realm to enter a new arena: women's flat-track roller derby. When old acquaintance Stormy Daze seeks his help finding her team's missing coach, Jed discovers that the turnbuckle-and-metal-chair mayhem of the wrestling ring pales in comparison to roller derby's four-wheeled ferocity.

Serious trouble is brewing in Brighton, California, a sprawling coastal community on the eastern edge of the Los Angeles Basin: Its Mayor has just been murdered, and the chief of police has resigned amid rumors of corruption in his department. Now, ex-police officer Joe Copp has been hired by an old friend, the current Brighton City administrator, to get to the bottom of the municipal mess.

Is there such a thing as a good sociopath? Newly minted private investigator Annalisa Vega is skeptical, but her first client, Mara Delaney, insists that some sociopaths are beneficial to society. Mara has even written a book titled The Good Sociopath that is centered around Chicago neurosurgeon Craig Canning. Dr. Canning has saved hundreds of lives so it shouldn’t matter that he doesn’t actually care about his patients, should it? But Mara has a more urgent problem, which is that she is now concerned that Canning might not be such a good sociopath after all.

Ever since meeting James Martin, Alex's life has never been the same. The former federal agent turned private investigator has faced off against mercenaries, deranged crime lords, and art smugglers, and that's just what's happened since taking a job in the private sector. After the most recent brush with death, Alex is reconsidering her work, but the universe has other plans. Martin has been arrested for the murder of supermodel Caterina Skolnick. The body was found on his yacht, and he was the only person onboard.

A missing woman Steve Fraser is hired to find, but he soon realizes she keeps going missing.

Fresh off solving the biggest case of his career, Private Eye Maxwell Floyd’s life has completely changed. Old habits have died hard. Late one night, the beautiful Helena Krivka shows up at Max’s office, distraught over the disappearance of her husband. Lukas Krivka is a senior developer for a multitrillion-dollar software company, and it seems he’s gotten involved with the wrong people. Worried the man’s wife is in danger as a result, Max takes the case. Clues to Lukas’ fate lead Max into a dangerous game of intrigue with the Lithuanian mob and a deadly Russian assassin.

Joe Copp is recovering from a three week bout of partial amnesia after a perp almost blew him away with his own gun. His doctors have assured him his memory will eventually return, but that isn't soon enough. It seems that during the last three weeks he married a lady who is now a corpse in the Los Angeles morgue.

PI Truman Smith has become a loner after failing to find his sister Jan during a recent search of Galveston Island. He jogs on the Seawall, plays with his cat, and reads lots of Faulkner books. He is pulled from his self-imposed retirement when his old high school football buddy Dino asks him to find a young girl named Sharon. As Tru begins his investigation, dead bodies begin to appear and Tru himself is attacked.

Struggling private investigator Kate Myles is shattered to learn her late father isn't her biological dad. She's still reeling when she discovers that an unknown distant relative is the prime suspect in a decades-old murder investigation. Trying to convince her to take on the case for free, an old colleague recommends her as an investigator for a recent arson murder in the same small town.

Seventh-grade detective Harper Madigan works alone. He doesn't need the vice principal assigning him a new partner to keep him in line, especially a stuffed-shirt wannabe-journalist. And he especially doesn't need his troublemaker ex-girlfriend showing up out the blue and asking for his help. She's accused of attacking the star of the school musical, and with her less-than-sparkling track record, she's only one suspension away from getting expelled.

Bhaajan grew up in the Undercity, a community hidden in the ruins buried beneath the glittering City of Cries. Caught between the astonishing beauty and crushing poverty of that life, and caught by wanderlust, she enlisted in the military. Now retired, Major Bhaajan is a private investigator who solves cases for the House of Majda, a powerful royal family centered in Cries. The powerful elite of the City of Cries are disappearing, and only Bhaajan, who grew up in the Undercity, can find them - if she isn’t murdered first.

After he failed to find his missing sister, whose remains finally turned up in a bag in an overgrown field, Texas PI Truman Smith retired to become a housepainter on Galveston Island. But when an alligator is killed and its carcass left on display on a family friend's property, Tru is persuaded to search for the culprit. Soon the brooding gumshoe is stumbling over the bodies of dead humans, is shot at and run down by a souped-up four-by-four as he's embroiled in a plot complete with crooked police, a possible land-grabbing sheme and assorted "bad guys".

Santa Fe lawyer Ed Eagle fell in love with the seductive Barbara Kennerly, and married her, against his better judgment. He should have listened to his intuition. Ed awakens on the morning after his 40th birthday to find that Barbara has vanished, and Ed's money from his business, his bank, and his brokerage accounts has been wired to the Cayman Islands.

The Las Vegas desert. A once famous pop singer lies dead. The only clue to her murder—a bizarre disfigurement. Only one thing to do. Call in Parker and Steele. To avoid the hassle of a media frenzy, the local police sergeant decides contact his old mentor, Wade Parker, and ask him to consult on the case. After nearly dying eight months ago, Miranda Steele can't wait to get back to real detective work.