Bøger af Neil S Plakcy

Steve Levitan and Lili Weinstock are on their way to the altar-but dognapping and murder get in the way.The theft of the vice-mayor's dog unveils a widespread pattern of canine thefts. Could those poor pooches be on their way to a testing lab or a puppy mill? And how does that case play into the death of a Billy Joel tribute act? Could the caterer they've hired be responsible?It will take all of Steve's hacking skills and Rochester's talent for nosing out clues to close these cases before Steve and Lili can walk down the aisle... or will a killer ruin their happy ending?Blessing of the Dogs blends humor, heart, and an intriguing puzzle only Steve, Rochester and readers can solve. It's the perfect new installment for fans of this charming series.

Rochester goes to college-- but he's not digging up a degree! When his mentor, Joe Dagorian, director of admissions at prestigious Eastern College, is murdered during a fund-raising event, Steve Levitan feels obliged to investigate. He and his golden retriever, Rochester, go nose to the ground to dig up clues, including a bloody knife and some curious photographs. But will Steve's curiosity and Rochester's savvy save them when the killer comes calling? A cozy mystery for dog lovers! Second in Neil S. Plakcy's Golden Retriever Mysteries, The Kingdom of Dog is funny and charming-- and who can resist a gregarious golden character like Rochester?

Two Dead Women. Will Kimo's Niece be Next?The latest Honolulu homicides in the long-running Mahu Investigations series are perplexing, even to a seasoned detective like Kimo Kanapa'aka.The two female victims, a young art college student and a seasoned HR executive, seem to have nothing in common. Yet as Kimo and his partner Ray Donne delve deeper into the investigation, they sense a connection between the two.Navigating the murky waters of teen dating, fashion influencers, an experimental power company, and a group of frustrated young men, Kimo is determined to find the truth. But when his own family is threatened, the stakes become personal, and Kimo is forced to race against time to bring the killer to justice.

Join Steve Levitan and Lili Weinstock as they navigate the treacherous waters of wedding planning in "In Dog's Image," a captivating traditional mystery novel. Amidst disagreements over guest lists, menu selections, and even wedding attire, their impending nuptials face more than just typical hurdles.The real challenge emerges with the mysterious demise of a prominent gallery owner. Lili finds herself entangled in a web of intrigue when she is asked to identify esteemed artists who graced an event she photographed two decades ago. As shadows of the past resurface, the couple's wedding concerns pale in comparison to the enigma unfolding before them.Lili digs deep into her memories, Steve scans the dark web for details about a crime that went unpunished, and Rochester sniffs out clues to help them both bring justice.As they peel back layers of deception, they uncover a complex tapestry of secrets, rivalries, and unspoken motives. "In Dog's Image" is a riveting tale where the boundaries between personal celebrations and perilous investigations blur. Will Lili, Steve, and Rochester unearth the buried truth and deliver justice, or will the past's long-shrouded mysteries remain forever concealed?

THE START OF A BEAUTIFUL PARTNERSHIP- A DETECTIVE DUO WITH HEART AND FURSteve's ripe for a new relationship-divorced, over forty, and still dusting himself off from a lamentable sojourn in prison, an unusual experience for a professor, to say the least. (He really must do something about his hacking habit!)Rochester's a handsome, homeless, loveable golden retriever whom Steve had always found too big, too enthusiastic, and too shaggy.But tragedy struck their neighborhood when someone murdered Caroline, Steve's nice next-door neighbor, while she walked her best friend, Rochester. Steve's the unlucky guy who finds her body and he just knows, despite their differences, that he has to take in the broken-hearted pooch.Once they're both properly rehomed, these two form a detective partnership that'll make you sit up and beg for more. Eat your hearts out, Spade & Archer-pretty soon they've got a warm and fuzzy thing going. Big furry forthrightness-not to mention heart-meets tech-savvy craftiness as they work their case.Rochester has no idea he has the potential to be the greatest doggy detective since Rex the Wonder Dog was a pup. But he's got a job to do and he has to find a way to train Steve in the fine art of investigation. Unbeknownst to Steve, his life just changed radically-because a big furry mentor has just trotted into it. Both want justice for Caroline, and Rochester's way of expressing it is simply to sniff out one clue after another in the hope his two-legged colleague can piece them together.Steve's way-when all's said and done- is still to bend the law a little, with the help of Caroline's contraband laptop. And also to follow Rochester's trail of treats.Fans of animal cozies-and all cozies!--will find pure gold here especially aficionados of mutt heroes from the aforementioned Rex through the immortal pooches created by Spencer Quinn, David Rosenfelt, Garth Stein, and Laurien Berenson. Lovers of canine classic films like TURNER AND HOOCH, BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA, and the immortal BENJI will also want to sit and stay awhile. Luckily, there's a whole litter of cases out there.Neil S. Plakcy is the author of the award-winning Mahu mystery series, and coeditor of Paws and Reflect: A Special Bond Between Man and Dog.

Genie for Hire: A Biff Andromeda Mystery is a private eye novel-with a paranormal twist. An ancient genie in a modern, buff body, Biff can't use his magical powers for his own benefit, so he opens a detective agency in a Miami suburb. A damsel in distress, photographer Sveta Pshkov, hires him to retrieve a stolen set of boudoir photos she took of a Russian mobster's wife-snapped for her boyfriend's pleasure, not her husband's.Biff's investigation uncovers the spreading tentacles of the Russian mafia. The case turns personal when he realizes that the dangerous female genie he has loved and lost over centuries has a desperate stake in the outcome.Joined by his companions, a resusciated squirrel and a magical sylph who takes the form of a butterfly, Biff follows his super-sensitive nose into hidden corners of South Florida and dark regions of human behavior.With his sarcastic wit, his ability to turn into a wisp of vapor, and magic as old as the ages, Biff battles a pack of ruthless criminals - and his own romantic obsession.Author's note: No squirrels were harmed during the writing of this novel.

When a young man suffering from mental illness disrupts the blessing of the animals at Steve Levitan's synagogue, he and his golden retriever Rochester are launched into an investigation that will take Steve back into the past of his family, his congregation, and the Jewish population of the city where he was born.In this 8th of the golden retriever mysteries, Steve and Rochester nose out suspects and dig up clues to present-day crimes-and ones in the past which still influence the living. From the rabbi's Talmud study group to a homeless shelter in Trenton, our two intrepid sleuths are on the trail of someone with deep secrets, and the will to kill to protect them.

Neil Plakcy's South Beach is filled with sun, sand, sex, and romance - with just a touch of magic. In these stories, all previously published only in e-book format, men find each other and fall in love, all against a backdrop of Art Deco architecture and the sparkling Atlantic Ocean. The Catbird Seat: South Beach Romances offers a calendar full of M/M love affairs, starting in February with "Lights Out, Valentine." South Beach hairstylist Ryan hates Valentine's Day. But will this day of roses and chocolates end with him giving his heart away to his favorite client once the lights go out? Spring continues with "The Catbird Seat." Yacht captain Rashid is immediately attracted to Bjorn, the sexy new sailor at the Miami Beach Marina-- but will Bjorn's secret destroy their budding romance? Is their romance just a quick sunset sail-- or is there a long-term berth for Rashid about Bjorn's catamaran? Then it's time for Father's Day, and "Waves of Gold and Smoke." Richie and Gabe meet by accident---when one of Richie's two adopted sons beans Gabe in the head with a soccer ball. There's an immediate attraction---but Gabe, who's still a boy at heart, though nearing thirty, is reluctant to take on a ready-made family. That is, until he runs into Richie again and their mutual attraction takes over... In "The Six-Year Itch," Spencer and Armando have built a beautiful world-- a two-story apartment atop a building they own on South Beach, full of sensual domesticity. But is that enough to keep them together, during a hot summer when things start getting stale, and they begin keeping secrets from each other? Can their love survive the handsome men and daring distractions of South Beach? In honor of Veteran's Day comes "Mixed-Up." Can young therapist Ken Levinson help returning vet Paul Wainwright with his PTSD-related nightmares? Or will the growing attraction between the two -- which violates Ken's professional ethics---derail Paul's healing and leave them both more alone? In the Hanukkah story "Third Night," can Joe reconcile his belief in the tenets of Orthodox Judaism with the religion's disapproval of his sexual orientation? Or will his crush on his friend Yehuda ruin their friendship and leave him ostracized by his community? In "Noche Buena," the men of South Beach get together to celebrate Christmas Eve with a traditional Cuban party. Sean McCartney gave up a computer career to work as a carpenter on South Beach, but the real estate downturn has left him unemployed and questioning his decisions. He's spending his free time in the pool with the other guys from the Miami Beach Gay Swim Team. The team's coach, Gaspar Fuentes, is single and forty-five, and feeling lonely at Christmas. So the guys decide to surprise him with a real Cuban Noche Buena, Christmas Eve. Because he has free time, Sean is roped into organizing with Magnus Anderson, a real Type-A personality who's constantly hounding Sean to do this, do that. Sean can't stand him, and he gets the impression Magnus thinks Sean's a real loser. But neither of them can deny the sexual attraction between them. Can they make it as a couple? When the party's over on Noche Buena, will they open their presents together, or go their separate ways? The capstone of this collection is the novella "The Guardian Angel of South Beach," which begins with out-of-shape computer geek Leo, who is so focused on trying to build the body he dreams of that he doesn't realize there's a great guy right in front of him. When he overhears a couple of buff guys at the gym talking about a strange old man who mixes up some magic pills, Leo pays him a visit -- and Leo's body blossoms. But even though he's developing a killer body and having lots of great sex, he's not happy, until he begins to change his personality, too. Can becoming The Guardian Angel of South Beach, protecting the weak, weird, and drunk from predators, make him happy and help him hook up with Dan, the barista who'

A famous, erotically charged painting called The Russian Boy depicts a nude Russian noble named Alexei Dubernin, younger lover of painter Fyodor Luschenko. Their affair takes place in the elegance of a lost world, the Russian enclave on the Cote d'Azur in the years just before the revolution of 1917. The painting, owned by the New York Museum of Fine Arts, is stolen from a restorer's studio in Paris, bringing together three very different men, each of whom must risk his life to return this precious work of art and earn the love he deserves. Fifty-year-old Rowan McNair was a college art history professor until he lost his marriage, his family and his job after an affair with a young male former student. Now he struggles to make a new life in New York as a journalist and art theft consultant. Taylor Griffin is finishing his first year on a painting fellowship at the Institute des Artistes in Montmartre, sharing a tiny studio apartment with his Russian émigré boyfriend, Dmitri Baranov, a fellow student. When Dmitri steals The Russian Boy, he plunges himself, Taylor, and eventually Rowan into a dangerous world of drugs, sex and intrigue. The Russian Boy is a sexy, romantic story about older men involved with younger men, about art and love and the risks we take when we fall in love.

FBI Special Agent Angus Green returns to the world of stolen art when a Cuban refugee uses the location of an old master painting to negotiate for his freedom. The perilous waters along Florida's coastline get easily breached by those smuggling drugs, stolen goods, and human refugees. Angus wades in eagerly, as always, only to discover hidden currents and dangerous obstacles. At the same time, Angus's romantic life is heating up as it presents new challenges, and his stepfather's death gives his mother the opportunity to tell Angus the truth about his parentage in a way that completely rocks his boat. From gnarled mangrove roots to deadly villains, people and places stand in Angus's way to keeping his head above water.Can Angus navigate the brackish waters of the Florida Keys-- and political privilege-- while staying within the law? Angus Green [is] the affable hero of this brisk series launch set in South Florida ... readers will look forward to seeing a lot more of Angus. Publishers Weekly on The Next One Will Kill You