Showing results by author "Len Boswell" in All Categories

Murder has come once more to the seaside town of Crab Cove, testing the mettle of “almost handsome” Detective Simon Grave and his “nearly invisible” partner, Sergeant Barry Blunt, who investigate a locked-room mystery with a significant twist: the prime suspects are in the locked room, not the victim, a logic-defying situation that challenges the team at every turn. As if murder weren’t enough, they must also investigate the simultaneous disappearance of The MacGuffin Trophy from that same locked room, the studio of artist Whitney Waters, famous for her stylized paintings of red herrings.

Murder has come yet again to the seaside town of Crab Cove, testing the mettle of Detective Simon Grave, his “almost invisible” partner, Sergeant Barry Blunt, and his new assistant, Charlize, a simdroid (an android lookalike of a famous person) who fancies herself a match for Sherlock Holmes, in the simulated body of Charlize Theron. When a body is discovered on a deserted beach, alongside a deactivated Betty White simdroid, the game is afoot.

When 15-year-old Rhynt, a disabled but fierce girl with magic skills, decides to run away from a powerful, demanding monk, the last thing she expects is to be taken under the wing of a legendary warrior. There’s just one problem. The warrior, Calax Halfhand, is being pursued by assassins. Worse, he's now on a mission to find the man behind the assassins.

When the head of a hovercycle club inexplicably calls in news of his own murder, Detective Simon Grave and his team are drawn in to Crab Cove's hovercycle underworld, a world of loyalty, betrayal, greed, and-yes-irony. As if murder weren't enough, the bombing of an election debate stage has the mayor pressing for a quick resolution to both crimes. It becomes increasingly clear that the crimes are connected, and that the solution will require the unraveling of an elaborate criminal scheme-and more.

A demon hound haunts Crab Cove, taking its victims as they come. When a mutilated corpse is found in the marshes, Detective Simon Grave rises to the challenge. Everything points to the hound, but it is quickly apparent that the body has been stabbed repeatedly, in a way that suggests serial killer Chester Clink also may be involved. Or maybe not.

Flicker is a modern-day ghost story set in a haunted diner. When Charlie Brace buys, refurbishes, and opens a diner that’s been up on blocks for many years, he gets much more than he bargained for.

You may not believe in Santa Claus, at least not at your current age, but if you celebrate Christmas, you know there was a time when you believed with all your heart, a time when you weren’t quite sure, and a time when the truth became all too clear. The 12 stories that follow reflect a mix of those emotions and events, told by the man - then boy - who experienced them in the early 1950s.

Murder has come to Crab Cove once more—this time a triple murder. Three young women, one a professional tennis star, are found dead within hours of each other. All have died by lethal injection, and each has the same crab tattoo. Grave and his team set out to investigate the murders, quickly learning that they will be assisted by a young woman from Mars, Kismet Salamander, who has come to Earth as part of an exchange program between Crab Cove and the Mars Colony.

Detective Simon Grave's tour of a local winery turns sour when a body is discovered in the fermentation tank for his favorite wine, Duct Tape Chardonnay. To solve the murder, he and his team of fellow detectives will have to question strangers, a long-lost love, and his choice in wines.

The discovery of a dead body is nothing new for Detective Simon Grave, but when the body and the murderer are both invisible, well, that's another matter entirely, even in the futuristic town of Crab Cove. The question is whether he and his human and android team are up for the challenge, which also remains to be seen. Making his job even more difficult is the sudden retirement of Captain Henry Morgan, who taps Grave as acting chief.