Don't drink...go to meetings...and investigate a murder.
When hopeless alcoholic Bruce Kohler hits bottom in a detox on the Bowery and homeless alcoholics start to die, the AA slogan takes a new twist. Helping Bruce investigate are two old friends he's let down badly: Jimmy, a computer wiz with many years' sobriety, and Jimmy's girlfriend Barbara, a world-class codependent. Hunting a murderer all over New York City, from the church basements of AA to the corporate towers of Wall Street, may give their friendship--and Bruce--a second chance.
Barbara's Al-Anon sponsee is the prime suspect when her abusive boyfriend, is found dead in her apartment in East Harlem. Bruce has to juggle sleuthing, sobriety, a crush on the bereaved girlfriend, and the lure of his compelling but self-destructive ex-wife, who's on her own collision course. The investigation takes Bruce, Barbara, and Jimmy to a funeral in Brooklyn, an Italian bakery, an upscale lingerie boutique, a SoHo art gallery, and the church basements of AA on the killer's trail.
Bruce, Jimmy, and Barbara take shares in a clean and sober group house in the Hamptons. On their first day at the beach, they find the body of their housemate Clea, an investigative journalist with more than her share of boyfriends. The folks they get to know at meetings all claim recovery from drug, love, and sex addictions, compulsive overeating, bulimia, and anorexia. But someone's not abstaining from murder. As the summer heats up, secrets and lies start buzzing around this dream vacation like flies at a picnic on the beach.
DEATH WILL PAY YOUR DEBTS (e-novel)
Books 4 and 5 of the Bruce Kohler mystery series have never appeared in print editions, but fans of Bruce, Barbara and Jimmy are encouraged to read on in the e-continuation of the series, which also includes short stories previously published elsewhere (see below).
In Death Will Save Your Life, the friends vacation at an intentional community that the locals call Woo-Woo Farm. Early-morning yoga, meditation, vegetarian food, and uphill hikes are not Bruce's cup of herbal tea, but the company of a sweet downtrodden wife and the murder of her obnoxious husband perk him up. By the way, the victim was a relationship guru--what else?
Note: For those who like to read in chronological order, this part of Bruce's story takes place early in his sobriety, before Death Will Help You Leave Him.
Death Will Pay Your Debts begins when Jimmy runs out of money just as Barbara's biological clock starts ticking loudly. Jimmy's sponsor in Debtors Anonymous gets killed, and the NYPD detective Bruce is trying to date catches the case. This novel follows Death Will Extend Your Vacation in Bruce's story.
SHORT STORIES
Available as e-books
NEW! Death Will Help You Imagine + Two This collection of stories includes NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED STORY "Death Will Relieve Your Hunger," "Death Will Help You Imagine" (first published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine), and "Death Will Finish Your Marathon"(first published in Where Crime Never Sleeps) "Death Will Clean Your Closet" (first published in Murder New York Style)
"Death Will Tie Your Kangaroo Down"(first published in EQMM)
"Death Will Trim Your Tree" (first published in The Gift of Murder)
"Death Will Tank Your Fish" (first published in Fresh Slices: Murder New
York Style 2)
"Death Will Fire Your Therapist" (first published in Family Matters: Murder New
York Style 3)
Additional stories
"Death Will Give You A Reason" Black Cat Mystery Magazine
"Death Will Walk the High Line" Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine
"Death Will Stream Your Game" Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (forthcoming)