MARTIN HERMAN’S BOOKSTORE

A secret society brutally murders and then dumps a body into the Potomac River to float within site of the Jefferson White House.  This crime is intended to send a message to the president, acknowledge and support us, enable us to do what we want, when and wherever we choose, or suffer the consequences. Almost 200 years later, a group of college students learn about the crime… the victim’s identity … and what Jefferson did about it.  The current head of the society goes after the students. Rather than retreat, the students fight back.

In this skillfully created concoction of real people, places, and events, shaken – not stirred — with pure fiction, you will be introduced to a powerful secret society which claims to be patriotic but is actually built on greed, strengthened by influence peddling, and kept alive through intimidation, murder, and mayhem.   

One by one, members of The Swinging Side of the Moon Big Band have been murdered. Each, on the 1^st Tuesday of the month.  Who could be responsible for this… and why?????

There seems to be no apparent connection to the murders, other than each of the victims are members of the same 18-piece big band.   Lora, Will James’s wife, is the vocalist with the same band, which makes her a possible future victim.  

Will James, private investigator, is still racked with emotional pain and self-doubt because of the brutal murder of his long-time friend and business partner, Bob Schless.  Can James, at 75% of capacity, be able to stop a killer, who is at the top of his or her game? 

The specific threat facing Lora makes this the most important and challenging case of Will James’s life – by far.  He must find and stop this brutal criminal before he or she kills again!

The family Rakúsko

ten generations of charlatans, cheaters, swindlers, grifters, con-men and con-women, rogues and scoundrels who skillfully and repeatedly cheated the rich, the famous, and the infamous; seemingly unstoppable for almost 400 years, until … you will never guess by whom and how they were brought crashing down`

Don’t you like to read a short story before bedtime or while taking a little break sitting at the park? A Very Special Dress & Other Stories contains almost two dozen short stories that you can enjoy anywhere you happen to be. Small enough to carry in your pocket or handbag and just the right size to have with you always.

Lovingly written by myself and my daughter Aimee, A Very Special Dress & Other Stories promises to be entertaining and timeless. Each of the stories are appropriate for all ages.

The anti-establishment private investigator Will James, and his crew, are asked to help unravel a mystery that begins in a Brooklyn antique store and winds its way to the Ukraine, Germany, and China before it ends in the most unlikely of places.

An auctioneer offers up a prohibition era permit in a battered old wooden frame, beginning the bidding at just $2. Within minutes the bidding quickly moves up to $100,000. “Why would anyone want to pay $100,000 for this piece of junk?” the auctioneer wonders. You will wonder until the very end too.

Will James is shown an x-ray that clearly identifies the source of the excruciating pain he feels with each step he takes.  Before he can absorb this shock to his own mortality, he learns that four of the most important women in his life have just been kidnapped. 

Meanwhile, a deathbed request drags Will into a nearly impossible investigation which could land him in jail.

As if that wasn’t enough to deal with, he has to find a safe place for a 10-year-old Native American orphan who is at the center of a custody battle that spans the continental U.S. and continues on to Alaska.

While Will struggles to face his demons, those closest to him must step up to lead the way forward. 

Perfect crimes probably take place each and every day. 

They are the ones we never hear about.  That’s what makes them perfect crimes.

Suzanne Fletcher planned the perfect crime.  Months and months of careful preparation.  She even had a few patsies lined up to take the blame if anything went wrong. 

Her plan was worked out to the smallest detail.  She considered each and every possible element that could go wrong and had a plan “B” for each one.  Even a plan ‘C’ for some.

Suzanne Fletcher thought of everything … well almost everything … and that is how this novel begins.

You will quickly feel as if you entered a world of mirrors.  One step in and you will no longer know if you are moving forward or backward.  From the opening sentence until the last, you will be taken on a journey with multiple twists and turns that you won’t always see coming.  You may think you will never leave this maze, but of course, you will, as long as you remember that nothing is ever as it seems. 

You will also be introduced to characters who aren’t always who or what they claim to be. 

It is Christmas Eve, 2018. A bomb explodes in a packed movie theater.  As the First Defenders move through the crime scene making instant life and death decisions, federal investigators pick up numerous clues, fingerprints and even D.N.A., all belonging to a known murderer.  However, it soon becomes crystal clear that this particular criminal could not possibly have been responsible for this crime because he was executed almost eighty years before in the Cañon City, Colorado gas chamber.

In “The Sweet Revenge Files”, the latest in the current series of Will James Mysteries, the resourceful and quick-witted investigator and his crew chase after three different, seemingly unrelated killers, all but obsessed by a need to dramatically settle old scores –

• A television preacher who claims to be doing God’s work by ridding the land of sinners… transgressors… non believers… but whose real driving force is to enrich herself and settle old scores regardless of the death and destruction left in her wake…

• An art dealer with a dark and well hidden past as well as all of the resources necessary for getting what he wants regardless of who or what he destroys in the process…

• A former KGB contract killer on a lifelong search for payback from the person who made it more challenging for him to ever rape another woman after he raped her…

Each of these criminals seems to be willing and able to do whatever it takes to get their revenge even though such an all consuming objective can and does threaten their own survival.

Yes, Will James is back!!

“……take a murder; the bloodier, the gorier, the better! … now, recreate it scene for scene with real people! What could possibly go wrong?”

From the time she was seven, Elsie Fetterman knew, first hand, what it was like to work for a living.  While others her age were free to play in the streets or just go to a movie, she could be found any weekday after school, all day Saturday, and occasionally bits of Sunday,in the family’s hardware store.  She stocked shelves, kibbitzed with the customers, and became a knowledgeable and very effective salesclerk while keeping the store’s books and filling in as a bill collector for past due invoices.

Elsie has been a researcher, and an educator—, first as a high school teacher, then on the faculties of U-CONN and U-MASS—, while she worked with Holocaust survivors, minority communities, women, and children, fighting the fight in support of social justice.    

She has been an effective consumer advocate, hosted a series of television programs on consumer rights, helped to open the first national office of consumer education, and has been a sought-after author, lecturer, and public speaker.

In her spare time, she meticulously kept in touch with every member of her high school graduating class, (all 68 of them) and, several generations of family and friends, while also fighting the good fight in support of her other many fields of interest.      

As she approaches her 97th birthday, Elsie could stop and, bathe in the glow of her numerous accomplishments, but that wasn’t who she was— – or is.  

Nine complete working decades behind her, and she is still up every day by 6:00 a.m. and puts in a full day managing her various properties, and on at least two to three nights a month, she and Ed Lomerson, go dancing.  (Born in 1928, a leap year, Ed is her much younger companion, 361 days younger than Elsie.).  They dance rings around those who are a fraction of their age.

Spend just a few minutes with her, and you will agree it is virtually impossible not to want to take her home with you, to bring her positive and ‘can do’ attitude into your world. 

This is her story— - so far.

You will be motivated, inspired, and challenged to get involved and join in Elsie’s example to help make the world a better place.  

Hers is an inspiring story you will not soon forget!

Will James is still agonizing about the brutal murder of his longtime friend and business partner, Bob Schless. As this novel begins, he is literally dragged out of his self-imposed exile to help find and capture the criminal hacker or hackers who have been holding the world hostage – causing planes to drop out of the skies … automobiles to halt or accelerate on busy highways … drains back accounts … interrupts the flow and distribution of power … corrupts and erases medical records … and more. You will quickly be caught up in the story and not want to put it down until the very last page. Buckle up, you are in for a rough and tumble ride.

Howard Milton Hill and I “breakfasted” our way from his home to my
home to a wide assortment of restaurants and ice cream stands and
park benches over a 14-16-month period, as he shared some of the
highs and lows and in-between times of his long career and even
longer life. When I finally read him the last draft of my manuscript, he
smiled and said he was pleased.

I admitted that we could have been finished months earlier but I didn’t
want to stop these very precious visits. He laughed his patented
laugh and said – “We ain’t finished until you say we’re finished. So,
don’t say we’re finished.” Unfortunately, we were working towards a deadline to have his biography off the press in time for his birthday and barely made it.

I have a feeling that the Howard Hill he permitted me to see was a
much deeper, somewhat more vulnerable man than the one others
around him got to see. “My” Howard Hill took all kinds of risks,
continued to seek ways to tweak the noses of the powerful, or as he
once said to me, “early on I learned how to tell ‘em to go fish but
make it sound like I thought they were the best of the best.” He
‘permitted’ some to take advantage of his generosity, forgave some
for their weaknesses, tolerated others who he thought should have
known better and would have willingly gone through fire for his
children or especially for his grandchildren.
He truly loved life. Music was his ticket to a life and lifestyle he might
have paid for the right to be part of, but fortunately, kept that to
himself.

I miss Howard. I miss his wisdom, his wit, his thirst to live life to its
fullest.

God rest your soul, dear Howard.
Rest in peace old friend.
You have earned it.