Fiction & Non-Fiction

STAND ALONE NOVELS

The Mad, Mad Murders of Marigold Way

Winner of the IPPY Gold (1st Place) Award in Mystery from the Independent Publisher Book Awards!
A wry and darkly comedic work in which a quaint suburb of Chicago finds itself rocked by more than just the uncertainties of 2020. Perfect for fans of Celeste Ng and the twisted prose of Tom Perrotta. For Scott Hatcher, a former television writer turned struggling novelist with a failing marriage to boot, social-distancing and mask-wearing feel like fitting additions to his already surreal life. When his wife Marie and neighbor John Bergman disappear in the middle of the raging COVID-19 pandemic, Scott is naturally mystified and disturbed, but he is also about to learn that his picturesque neighborhood hides more than just the mundane routines of suburban life. When a fire claims the empty house for sale next door, the entire community is shocked when the charred remains of Marie and John are found inside. Stranger still, stockpiles of valuable Personal Protection Equipment, clearly stolen, were destroyed in the blaze alongside them. As the neighborhood reels from the loss, Scott and Bergman’s earthy and enticing widow, Rachel, not only find themselves under investigation for the crime, but also inexorably drawn to one another. As tensions reach a fever pitch, the tale—which is at once familiar and ordinary, yet bizarre and eerie—shows that, just like life in 2020’s uncertain times, dread and danger lurk below the hidden underside of everyday suburbia. Fans of Thornton Wilder’s classic Our Town and films by the sardonic Coen Brothers will be captivated by the warped Americana of The Mad, Mad Murders of Marigold Way.

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Hotel Destiny – A Ghost Noir

WHAT IF YOU, AS A GHOST, HAD TO SOLVE YOUR OWN MURDER? Presenting a novel that is a ghost story with a distinctive noir sensibility mixed with David Lynchian surrealism. The year is 1985. Coleman Sackler is the night manager and hotel detective for the transient Hotel Destiny, which has been plagued with scandals over the century, including several murders, gangster occupation, and fleabag status during the 1960s and 70s. Five recent slayings in the building have been attributed to—the police believe—one killer. During the gala grand re-opening Halloween party, Cole himself is murdered by a masked man. But hold on! Cole “awakes” and is still in the hotel—as a ghost. Prior to his death, a mysterious woman had told him that hidden portals located throughout the building can lead one to other time periods, and that the key to Cole’s destiny is in the hotel’s past and embedded in its many secrets. Thus, Cole’s spirit sets out to solve his own murder by dropping in on living characters throughout Hotel Destiny’s history and observing and/or interacting with them. His goal is to discover the identity of his killer, as well as learn the ironic truth about his own family, his heritage, and himself!

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Blues in the Dark

A Hollywood crime drama set in the 1940s and present day that tackles racism, sexism, and murder: Karissa Glover is a movie producer who moves into a decrepit but functional old mansion in the West Adams Heights area of Los Angeles, where black celebrities of yesteryear–Hattie McDaniel, Louise Beavers, and others–once resided. The former owner was a white actress, Blair Kendrick, who often starred as the “bad girl”–a femme fatale–in films noir of the 1940s. However, Blair’s career was cut short when she was tragically killed by the mob after allegedly witnessing the slaying of a corrupt studio head in 1949. As Karissa and her producing partner decide to develop a modern film noir about Blair Kendrick, malevolent forces from the past attempt to stop them–first with intimidation, and then with the thread of murder. Is this because Karissa has learned that Blair was involved in a then-taboo interracial relationship with jazz musician Hank Marley? What really happened on the night that death struck in a dimly lit studio mogul’s office? The consequences of Blair and Hank’s doomed love affair still resonate in the present day as Karissa attempts to unravel Blair’s secrets. Seeping with mystery, intrigue, Hollywood history, and forbidden romance, Blues in the Dark is Raymond Benson at his most insightful and page-turning best.

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In the Hush of the Night

A gritty, riveting tale of modern crime, featuring a female FBI agent embroiled in a Russian human trafficking case. While investigating the discovery of a dead woman bearing a familiar tattoo, Chicago Special Agent Annie Marino uncovers a sordid plot with an international reach. Annie’s neighborhood friend, Jason Ward, is a young writer engaged to be married into an upper-class family from a posh Chicago suburb. He believes his future brother-in-law, a war veteran, is definitely a bully–but does he also have ties to the Russian mob? And Yana Kravec, a woman from St. Petersburg, has been fraudulently lured into a trafficking scheme–but she is determined to fight back and escape her captors. The paths of Annie, Jason, and Yana ultimately converge in a night of terror and survival in a Michigan forest, where they become the prey of evil men who will stop at nothing to protect their secrets.

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The Secrets on Chicory Lane

A novel of suspense involving a small town neighborhood street where first love, a child abduction, abuse, and Evil—with a capital “E”—collide. Sixty-one-year-old Shelby Truman, a best-selling romance novelist, receives a request to visit her childhood friend, Eddie, who is on Death Row. Though mentally ill, Eddie is scheduled to be executed for murder. As Shelby travels home to Texas for the unnerving reunion, she steps into the memories of her past, recalling the stormy five-decade-long relationship with Eddie in order to understand what led the beautiful and talented—but troubled—boy who lived across the street to become a killer. With only a few days left for Eddie to live, Shelby braces herself for the visit that promises to shed light on the traumatic events that transpired on her street, changing everything she thought she knew about the boy on Chicory Lane.

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Torment—A Love Story

From the vault, this supernatural thriller is a story of voodoo, murder, love, and obsession—but wait! Is it really supernatural, or is it all in the protagonist’s troubled mind? Rick Shepherd is an ordinary guy from the mid-west who has been both cursed and protected by different voodoo spells. Rick’s torturous journey to find the mysterious woman he met in Jamaica is a tale of redemption, but it is also full of danger and excitement as one horrific thing happens after another. To find the love of his life, he must undergo unimaginable torment.

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Artifact of Evil

From the vault, a unique suspense thriller that blends real-world modern-day crime, historical figures, and fantasy. Rusty “Red” River is a freelance forensics consultant who resides in West Texas. When his ranch hand’s newborn son is abducted from the hospital’s maternity ward and found dead hours later, River resolves to bring the perpetrators to justice. There is one peculiar clue: the child’s head is marked with the Arabic equivalent to the letter “L.” River and his ex, a Jewish historian, team up to help solve the mystery. Together they uncover a bizarre plot that stretches from war-torn Iraq to Israel, then to Mexico, Texas, and finally the Chicago area. What they don’t know is that a mysterious, prehistoric relic is in the possession of the killers—a talisman that has been passed down through the centuries. What exactly is the artifact of evil?

Buy it: Paperback | Kindle ebook | Other ebook formats from Smashwords | Audio book from Audible | Limited Illustrated Hardcover Editions from King’s Way Press (see details on publisher’s site): Noble Trade Edition, Signed Regal Limited Edition, and Signed Royal Lettered Edition

 

Sweetie’s Diamonds

Diane Boston lives with her Marfan syndrome-afflicted 13-year-old son in a suburb of Chicago and teaches social studies at the high school, with the students even voting her Teacher of the Year. But she has some dark secrets. Her ex-husband Greg always suspected that Diane kept things from him, but he has no idea just how right he is. When Diane’s son, David, finds a box of unmarked videotapes and watches one of them out of curiosity, he discovers that it’s a hardcore adult movie from the late 1970s. The star, Lucy Luv, was an actress that mysteriously disappeared in 1980. Some suspected she’d been murdered. David recognizes the actress as his mother. Then, somehow, the news of Diane’s involvement in the adult film business hits the streets and causes chaos at her school and at home. It also attracts the attention of the West Coast porn czar who has ties with organized crime. Apparently when Lucy Luv disappeared, she took a cache of stolen diamonds with her. This is the catalyst for a non-stop roller-coaster ride of suspense and mystery that involves the dark side of the adult film industry, the mob, kidnapping, and murder.

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Face Blind

From the pen of Raymond Benson, author of the acclaimed original James Bond continuation novels and the novel Evil Hours, comes a new and edgy noir thriller.

Imagine a world where you don’t recognize the human face. That’s Hannah’s condition–prosopagnosia, or “face blindness”—when the brain center that recognizes faces is inoperable. The onset of the condition occurred when she was attacked and nearly raped by an unknown assailant in the inner lobby of her New York City apartment building. And now she thinks he’s back, and not just in her dreams.

When she also attracts the attention of a psychopathic predator and becomes the unwitting target of a Mafia drug ring, the scene is set for a thrill ride of mistaken identity, cat-and-mouse pursuit, and murder.

Face Blind is a twisting, turning tale of suspense in which every character has a dark side. The novel will keep the reader surprised and intrigued until the final violent catharsis.

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Evil Hours

Shannon Reece’s mother was one of several women murdered in the small Texas town of Limite when Shannon was six years old. Her mother’s alleged killer was convicted and sent to jail, where he was subsequently killed by fellow inmates. Now, 26 years later, Shannon has decided that the unresolved questions about the case, which continue to haunt her, can no longer be ignored.

With the help of a private eye, Shannon sets out to find the answers, and what she finds reveals some truths that several prominent Limite citizens would rather she had not discovered.

In a style that tens of thousands of James Bond fans have come to love, Raymond Benson pulls us, revelation by revelation, into a story you’ll not soon forget.

Buy it: Kindle ebook | Other ebook formats from Smashwords | Trade Paperback from Amazon | Audio book from Audible