"Suspenseful plotting . . . another satisfying Joshua Croft adventure" as the Santa Fe PI trails a mother who's snatched her daughter from her TV star ex ( Kirkus Reviews).After a particularly nasty divorce, Melissa, the ex-wife of actor Roy Alonzo, accused the handsome TV star of abusing their daughter. Then she took their child and disappeared.Santa Fe private investigator Joshua Croft has no real desire to get entangled in the sordid lives of Ho...

The notorious Lizzie Borden investigates a brutal axe-murder that's strangely reminiscent of her own alleged crimes in this "entertaining" historical novel ( The New York Times).It has been thirty years since a Massachusetts jury acquitted Lizzie Borden of brutally murdering her father and stepmother. Now, at the start of the 1920s, she's an aging spinster living a quiet, secluded life by the New England seashore.Young Amanda Burton has heard all t...

Lizzie Borden and Amanda Burton join forces with Dorothy Parker to solve a grisly murder in Prohibition-era New York in this "assured and witty" mystery ( Publishers Weekly).Sixteen-year-old Amanda Burton is thrilled to be spending the summer in New York City at her glamorous uncle John's apartment in the Dakota while her parents are off visiting Tibet. It's 1924, the decade is roaring, and she's out on the town every night with her father's flamboyant you...

A ruthless killer shadows Oscar Wilde across the frontier in this "perfect blend of mystery, satire and travelogue" by the author of Miss Lizzie ( Publishers Weekly).An outrageously controversial literary icon in Great Britain, Irish poet, novelist, and playwright Oscar Wilde has taken his act to America in 1882. The renowned wit is thrilling audiences on his tour of the American West, while gleefully soaking in the rugged ambiance of dusty cow to...

A Santa Fe PI's search for stolen Native American bones unearths dark deeds and a fresh murder in a gripping mystery "reminiscent of Tony Hillerman" ( Booklist).Private investigator Joshua Croft never expected to see Daniel Begay again after he helped the elderly Native American fend off a group of abusive rednecks. But now the old man has come to Croft's Santa Fe office with a bizarre request: He wants the detective to recover human bones that have been m...

When a gathering of psychics, astrologers, and New Age practitioners turns deadly, a Santa Fe PI must find a killer in this "entertaining adventure" ( Publishers Weekly).Thirteen prominent members of Santa Fe's New Age spiritualism community attended a meeting at the home of a couple of enthusiastic devotees. Only twelve of them survived it.Private investigator Joshua Croft prides himself on his even-handed, eminently rational approach to crime sol...

After an attack on his lover, Croft scours New Mexico for vengeanceEver since a bullet smashed her spine, detective Joshua Croft has tried to entice Rita Mondragón away from her house. For years the response from his boss and unrequited love has been the same: “I’ll go into town when I can walk there.” When she is finally strong enough to walk, their relationship blossoms into love. Rita and Croft are basking on the patio outside her mountain home when a helicopter...

In the first book of a "promising" Southwestern mystery series, a Santa Fe PI's search for a stolen necklace leads to drugs, pornography, and murder ( The New York Times Book Review).As an associate at Santa Fe's Mondragon Detective Agency, Joshua Croft has heard a lot of strange proposals. But nothing stranger than when a cowboy comes in and asks him to help fence a stolen $100,000 necklace. Thinking he has a deal with Croft, the cowboy leaves as mysterio...

Sixteen-year-old Amanda is spending the summer with her suave and easygoing uncle John at the Dakota Apartments, opposite the green sprawl of New York's Central Park. When John isn't doing something mysterious with stocks and bonds, he and Amanda enjoy the very best the Roaring Twenties have to offer. However, in a single brutal night, everything changes. Suddenly, Amanda is alone, far from home, and fighting for her life in a city that has abandoned her. Fortunately, there's one person Am...

There are a number of noteworthy articles in this issue of The Magazine.We are fortunate to feature some of the correspondence between two legends of crime fiction, Walter Satterthwait and Bill Crider, both of whom recently passed away. For those who knew Walter and Bill, or were just fans of their work, there is a touch of their personalities that comes through in these exchanges and, at least for a moment, gives us an opportunity to experience their unique voices just a little bi...