The Carbon Murder


Book Description

Discovering that a serial killer is linking each of his crimes to a periodic table element, retired physicist and amateur sleuth Gloria Lamerino teams up with her homicide detective boyfriend to find the murderer.




The Hydrogen Murder


Book Description

Ex-physics professor Gloria Lamerino helps police when a young physicist is found dead in a lab. Was the death related to his research on hydrogen?




The Carbon Murder


Book Description

Gloria Lamerino's goddaughter, Mary Catherine Galigani ("MC" to her friends), needs a change in her life. She decides to move back to her hometown of Revere, Massachusetts, thereby ridding herself of both an abusive relationship and an unfulfilling job in Houston, Texas. At least that's the plan. When two homicides disrupt MC's peaceful return to Revere, Gloria applies her not inconsiderable detecting skills to help the police solve the crimes. At the same time, Gloria must face the medical problems of her partner, Detective Matt Gennaro, and the next steps in their relationship. In this sixth periodic table mystery, Gloria delves behind the scenes into the worlds of nanotechnology and show horses, and unwittingly uncovers a crime ring larger than the distance between Texas and Massachusetts.




Molecules of Murder


Book Description

Molecules of Murder is about infamous murderers and famous victims; about people like Harold Shipman, Alexander Litvinenko, Adelaide Bartlett, and Georgi Markov. Few books on poisons analyse these crimes from the viewpoint of the poison itself, doing so throws a new light on how the murders or attempted murders were carried out and ultimately how the perpetrators were uncovered and brought to justice. Part I includes molecules which occur naturally and were originally used by doctors before becoming notorious as murder weapons. Part II deals with unnatural molecules, mainly man-made, and they too have been dangerously misused in famous crimes. The book ends with the most famous poisoning case in recent years, that of Alexander Litvinenko and his death from polonium chloride. The first half of each chapter starts by looking at the target molecule itself, its discovery, its history, its chemistry, its use in medicine, its toxicology, and its effects on the human body. The second half then investigates a famous murder case and reveals the modus operandi of the poisoner and how some were caught, some are still at large, and some literally got away with murder. Molecules of Murder will explain how forensic chemists have developed cunning ways to detect minute traces of dangerous substances, and explain why some of these poisons, which appear so life-threatening, are now being researched as possible life-savers. Award winning science writer John Emsley has assembled another group of true crime and chemistry stories to rival those of his highly acclaimed Elements of Murder.




The Poisoner's Handbook


Book Description

Equal parts true crime, twentieth-century history, and science thriller, The Poisoner's Handbook is "a vicious, page-turning story that reads more like Raymond Chandler than Madame Curie." —The New York Observer “The Poisoner’s Handbook breathes deadly life into the Roaring Twenties.” —Financial Times “Reads like science fiction, complete with suspense, mystery and foolhardy guys in lab coats tipping test tubes of mysterious chemicals into their own mouths.” —NPR: What We're Reading A fascinating Jazz Age tale of chemistry and detection, poison and murder, The Poisoner's Handbook is a page-turning account of a forgotten era. In early twentieth-century New York, poisons offered an easy path to the perfect crime. Science had no place in the Tammany Hall-controlled coroner's office, and corruption ran rampant. However, with the appointment of chief medical examiner Charles Norris in 1918, the poison game changed forever. Together with toxicologist Alexander Gettler, the duo set the justice system on fire with their trailblazing scientific detective work, triumphing over seemingly unbeatable odds to become the pioneers of forensic chemistry and the gatekeepers of justice. In 2014, PBS's AMERICAN EXPERIENCE released a film based on The Poisoner's Handbook.




Murder on the Rocks


Book Description

Trading in Texas heat for Maine's tangy salt air, Natalie Barnes risked it all to buy the Gray Whale Inn, a quaint bed and breakfast on Cranberry Island. She adores whipping up buttery muffins and other rich breakfast treats for her guests until Bernard Katz checks in. The overbearing land developer plans to build a resort next door where an endangered colony of black-chinned terns is nesting. Worried about the birds, the inevitable transformation of the sleepy fishing community, and her livelihood, Natalie takes a public stand against the project. But the town board sides with Katz. Just when it seems like things can't get any worse, Natalie finds Katz dead. Now the police and much of the town think she's guilty. Can Natalie track down the true killer before she's hauled off to jail...or becomes the next victim? Murder on the Rocks is an Agatha Award nominee.




Etna - A Murder Out of Time


Book Description

Almost one hundred forty years after the vicious and unsolved murder of the beautiful 17-year-old daughter of a well-to-do local family, a seasoned prosecutor and detective of the Monroe County Pennsylvania District Attorney's Office team up to solve this coldest of cases. By using the techniques, methods, and insights acquired over the course of their careers they pursue the crime in all its details, recognizing the limitations and failings of the original investigators, uncovering leads long ago forgotten, and using the passage of the years to connect suspects to the crime. Their mission is to fulfill a centuries old mandate issued by a long forgotten grand jury directing their predecessors to 'use all resources to ferret out the murder of Etna Bittenbender'. Their journey through the darkest inner recesses of the human soul gives form and shape to an innocent life brutally snuffed out and of a depraved crime both of which had been reduced to nothing more than a dim memory.




6200 Carbon Canyon Road


Book Description

Terri was engaged to a notorious strip club owner known as 'Big Mac' McKenna for seven years. He was gunned down in his limousine in his driveway at 6200 Carbon Canyon Road. He took twenty- one bullets in the chest. By sheer luck Terri had escaped being in the limousine with him by leaving Mac three months earlier. She was rocked by the murder and frightened by the prospect of who could have done it. "I usually drove to check the mailbox, which was down by the road at the end of a mile-long winding driveway, but it was a beautiful southern California summer day in August 1987, sunny and inviting outside. I needed the fresh air, and it was a chance to enjoy some rare time alone in a turbulent life that seemed at a turning point. I must have anticipated that something important would be waiting for me in the mail. I opened the letter addressed to me, Terri Lenee Peake, from Penthouse magazine and couldn't believe my eyes-there with the letter was a gold Penthouse key necklace for me and a note saying "Congratulations, you are October 1987 Penthouse centerfold." That moment I went from nobody to suddenly somebody and things were about to take a drastic turn. I was living in an increasingly abusive relationship with Horace "Big Mac" McKenna, a six-foot-six, black bodybuilder, ex-cop, and notorious gangster who co-owned a string of strip clubs. He had moved me into his lavish forty-acre ranch at 6200 Carbon Canyon Road in Brea, an address that would later become infamous as a murder scene. For now, it was where Mac kept his Arabian horses, his pet tiger and jaguar, four attack dobermans, his spider monkeys that he dressed in tuxedos, his collection of lethal snakes-and me.""




Murder Off Stage


Book Description

Welcome to Broadway - and to an unthinkable crime! Former theatre starlet turned amateur sleuth Jessie Beckett gets mixed up in murder when an on-stage shooting turns all too real. New York, 1926. It's not like Jessie Beckett goes around looking for murders to solve, but the vaudeville star turned movie script girl has a natural talent for it. After a lifetime on stage, she's sensitive to details that other people miss. So when leading theater star Allen Crenshaw is shot live on stage during a performance of hit Broadway show Rules of Engagement - a horrified Jessie watching from the second row - she knows she has to act fast before Allen's co-star, the beautiful Norah Rose, goes down for murder. After all, it was Norah who fired the fateful bullet . . . even if the shooting was all part of the show. Jessie investigates those closest to Allen - the presence of her theater companion, the superstar Adele Astaire, opening doors wherever they go - and finds only enemies. With the suspects for the disliked actor so numerous, can she uncover the truth in time to save Norah - or will the killer silence her too? Packed with real-life stars of the stage and screen, this page-turning romp through the boards and backstreets of Broadway is a perfect pick for readers who enjoy Jazz Age mysteries with intrepid female sleuths.




Murder on the Pilgrims Way


Book Description

'While Oxford had Morse, Whitstable, famous for its oysters, has Pearl' Daily Mail Murder on the Pilgrims Way is the fourth book in Julie Wassmer's popular crime series - now a major Acorn TV drama, Whitstable Pearl, starring Kerry Godliman as private detective and restaurateur, Pearl Nolan. Pearl receives a surprise present from her mother, Dolly - an early summer break at a riverside manor house that has been recently transformed into an exclusive hotel - the newly named Villa Pellegrini. Pellegrini - the Italian word for pilgrims - reflects the fact that the building lies on the old Pilgrims Way into Canterbury, and Pearl is looking forward to the break, not least because DCI Mike McGuire has been neglecting her due to his work. But when she discovers that she's actually booked in for a cookery course from the Italian celebrity chef, Nico Caruso, she begins to think again . . . Pearl doesn't welcome instruction on cookery at the best of times, and certainly not from an arrogant chef like Caruso. She goes along, intent on challenging Caruso's egotism - and a long tradition of men dominating gastronomy - but soon finds herself distracted, not only by her enchanting surroundings but by the disparate selection of guests. She even begins to enjoy Caruso's attentions - and his cookery - until one of the guests goes missing and it becomes clear that murder is on the menu. Praise for Julie Wassmer's Whitstable Pearl Mysteries... 'While Oxford had Morse, Whitstable, famous for its oysters, has Pearl . . . True to the tradition of classic crime, [Julie Wassmer] weaves a strong story into a setting that has more to offer than murder and mayhem' Daily Mail 'As light as a Mary Berry Victoria sponge, this Middle-England romp is packed with vivid characters' Myles McWeeney, Irish Independent 'All of the thrills without any of the gore' The Sun 'This is a quality title...a very entertaining read' The Puzzle Doctor 'My new favourite author in the genre' George Galloway 'A wonderful way to explore Whitstable . . . if you love cosy mysteries, then get acquainted with Pearl (and her mum and her cats!) and enjoy a trip to Whitstable through the eyes of this very convincing author' Trip Fiction 'Proves she's mistress of her craft' John McGhie, author of White Highlands 'Thoroughly enjoyable with a host of wonderful characters - I adore Dolly! - and evocative descriptions of Whitstable. Perfect for foodies too. Pearl is great and the ongoing will they/won't they love story with McGuire is compelling. Comforting, cosy and entertaining with excellent Agatha Christie-style reveals. I love these books!' Jane Wenham-Jones, author of Mum in the Middle 'If you enjoy cosy crime fiction and you still haven't picked this series, then you are missing out' Alba in Bookland 'Julie Wassmer really knows how to tell a story' Victoria Best, Shiny New Books 'Good, solid whodunits, without gruesome details or gratuitous violence, Murder on Sea may be just your cup of tea' Bec Stafford 'Come to Whitstable without actually coming to Whitstable. A good read!' Anthony Jemmett Praise for the TV series 'Scandi noir meets the English seaside in Whitstable Pearl, a murder mystery series based on Julie Wassmer's novels...' Drama Quarterly '...explores all the murder and debauchery in the seemingly perfect English seaside town of Whitstable...' Washington Post '...you never know what might turn up, either on the menu or alongside an oyster boat.' Wall Street Journal