The Swamp Yankee Mysteries
Little Penwick, Rhode Island, is the smallest town in the smallest state. But it still has big city problems.
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Gus and Julius Haddock know that all too well. Gus is the new chief of police in Little Penwick, and he took over the job from his father, Julius, who was the town’s chief for twenty-plus years and is now a semi-retired private investigator.
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These books chronicle their attempts to keep the peace, deal with the political shenanigans that are ever-present in Rhode Island, and protect the citizens of Little Penwick, those hard-working, multi-generational, salt-of-the-earth characters known locally as the Swamp Yankees.
Glitter Girl
Book 1 in the
Swamp Yankee Mystery Series
Gus Haddock is the new chief of police in the town of Little Penwick, RI, replacing his father, who is now in jail. The state’s Attorney General, who sent the elder Haddock away, has appointed a new Special Master to keep tabs on Gus’ department. And Chief Haddock’s three tours with the U.S. Army Rangers in the Middle East has left him with more than a touch of PTSD.
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Gus's first case is the disappearance of the patriarch of the town’s bad-seed local crime family—the case that inspired the Attorney General to send his Dad away. And then SHE walks in.
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The Glitter Girl. Young, drop-dead gorgeous and apparently deeply involved in the case. Who is she? Why is she living in Little Penwick? How does she fit into the web of intrigue that links the town, the AG, the Providence Mob and everything else?
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Gus Haddock has his hands full. But he’s a Swamp Yankee … the salt-of-the-earth natives who have been carving a living out of the rocky land and dangerous seas in this part of New England for four hundred years … and if anybody can figure out what’s going on, he can.
Available in Ebook, Trade Paperback and
(coming soon) Audiobook editions
Cold Secrets
Book 2 in the
Swamp Yankee Mystery Series
Julius Haddock is out of jail. And he wants revenge. But on his own schedule.
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In the meantime, armed with his new PT license, Julius takes up one of Little Penwick’s coldest cases: the thirty-year-old murder of Donna Dixon, a seventeen-year-old abducted and killed riding her bike to work at her summer job.
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As he digs into the case, he learns everyone seems to have buried secrets from that long-ago time. And he even finds some secrets in Little Penwick that are fresh and brand new.
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But nobody doubts Julius Haddock will figure out what happened. He’s a Swamp Yankee, after all. Proud, determined and relentless.
Available in Ebook, Trade Paperback and
(coming soon) Audiobook editions
Rainbow's End
Book 3 in the
Swamp Yankee Mystery Series
After barely escaping assault by auto, Chief Gus Haddock’s problems keep adding up. His significant other, Maggie Wells, announces she’s pregnant. Her new women’s support center in Providence is having some problems, and Gus needs to hire two new cops for the Little Penwick force.
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But then he learns that the Glitter Girl, Janine Stone, is back in town and looking for the stash of money she left behind when Gus broke up her smuggling ring in Book 1. Most of her compatriots are in jail, but somewhere in town there’s a pot o’cash with Janine’s name on it. And she wants it.
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It’s another page-turning adventure in the land of the Swamp Yankee, and Chief Gus Haddock is on the job.
Available in Ebook, Trade Paperback and
(coming soon) Audiobook editions
Family Affairs
Book 4 in the
Swamp Yankee Mystery Series
When Rhode Island Attorney General Preston Knox is brutally murdered in his home, just weeks before getting elected Governor, the first suspect is Julius Haddock. After all, the men had a history.
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But Julius has a rock-solid alibi and the out-going governor, impressed with his work on solving a cold case (Cold Secrets, Book 2) appoints Julius to the state police task force investigating the AG’s murder. Suspect to sleuth!
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While Julius begins pulling on the strings in the Knox murder, he befriends a local kid on a bike who has some family secrets of his own. And Julius and his partner Siggi are trying to convince the last surviving member of an old Little Penwick family to donate his land to the Town Trust. But there are family ghosts in the way there, too.
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As usual, the Swamp Yankees of Little Penwick get the job done. They are born and bred to let nothing get in the way.
Available in Ebook, Trade Paperback and
(coming soon) Audiobook editions
Rum Row
A Prequel Novella in the
Swamp Yankee Mystery Series
It’s New Year’s Eve 1924 and, despite Prohibition, young merchant mariner John Edward Haddock of Little Penwick is looking forward to attending a party where he can dance with the girl of his dreams, Vollie Jeffords.
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Then, he’s offered a cool grand to take the Black Duck, the fastest boat in Narragansett Bay, out to Rum Row—the flotilla of ships anchored just outside the US boundary—to load up with illicit booze for the speakeasies and clubs in Boston owned by the notorious Charles “King” Solomon.
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John Edward knows it's wrong, knows the Coast Guard patrols will be out in force, knows the dangers of the weather. But with that grand, he could start building his dream house on the beach and maybe buy a ring for Vollie.
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So he accepts, and Rum Row tells the story of that dramatic nighttime voyage.
Available in Ebook edition only
