Harry Grouch Mysteries Series

"The Witch of Maple Park" is an Eric Hoffer Book Award Grand Prize finalist and First Runner Up in the Ebook Fiction category. It is compelling fiction inspired by a true story. The True Story: On Christmas Eve, 1843, on Staten Island, N.Y., Emeline Houseman and her baby are gruesomely axe murdered and dismembered. Her sister-in-law, Polly Bodine is accused of the crime and branded "The Witch of Staten Island." The New Story: On Christmas Eve, 1993, in a Detroit suburb, Kathy Black Marlowe, a blind jazz singer and her dog, are similarly axe murdered and dismembered. Her sister-in-law, Polly Marlowe, is accused of the killing and branded "The Witch of Maple Park." The cantankerous private eye, Harry Grouch, and his attractive lover/sidekick, Judy Pacas, are one gut-wrenching step ahead of a ruthless Prosecuting Attorney and Police Chief, both of whom are conspiring to pin the grisly slaying on Polly Marlowe. And how to explain the astonishing parallels between the tales of the two Polly's? Coincidence? Reincarnation? Prevarication? Harry Grouch must decide.

"You can't kill something that isn't alive!" That shocking discovery is the key to this compelling whodunit. A mysterious pathogen is infecting neurosurgical patients at Bard Memorial Hospital. Dementia and rapid death follow. The microorganism causing this disease is surviving all known sterilization techniques. Why isn't the disinfection process used by the Operating Rooms destroying this astonishing bug? Bard Memorial Hospital, it's Administrator, Abner Fabian, it's Laboratory Director, Mickey Barrie, and other key doctors on the staff, will be familiar to readers of my earlier work, "The Medical Director's Divorce, and Other Stories." In "Nanobe," these characters are further developed as important players in helping Harry Grouch to unravel the mystery of the neurosurgical patient deaths. Things look bleak for the hospital. The County Medical Examiner is accusing the hospital of a malpractice cover-up, while the doctors argue furiously over the many theories about what is happening. The Police Chief suspects foul play. The media and public have condemned the hospital and doctors. Harry Grouch and Judy Pacas rush to the rescue. They tour the laboratories, monitor surgery, stroll the patient units at 2 am, and befriend hospital staff to dig up the facts. It's up to them to figure out why patients are dying. Is it a mini-epidemic that, once understood, can be scientifically explained and controlled? Or is a creative killer using this newly discovered biological entity, this nanobe, as a murder weapon. And if it's murder, what's the motive, how is it being accomplished, and who are the suspects? All of this leads to a juicy, hospital-based detective thriller unlike any other on most library and bookstore crime shelves.

Who is killing classical composers all over America? A serial killer is on the loose and Harry Grouch must find out why and catch the murderer. "Stradella's Revenge" is based on the real life conflicts of two 17th century Italian composers, Tomaso Albinoni and Alessandro Stradella. It is the third in the entertaining Harry Grouch Detective Series that includes "The Witch of Maple Park" and "Nanobe." Dr. Tomaso Albinoni, a Medical Microbiologist at Bard Memorial Hospital (and a descendant of the baroque composer with the same name) hires Harry Grouch and Associates to investigate anonymous death threats. Could they be related to an unsolved series of recent murders of other composers? Harry discovers that in Tom Albinoni's case they may be revenge threats coming from a descendant of Alessandro Stradella, a composer who was assassinated in 1682, possibly by one of Albinoni's ancestors. These were real and talented composers whose music is often heard and celebrated today. Flashbacks to 1682 reveal what really happened. Stradella was a blessed composer and a cursed personality, a cad, a womanizer, and an embezzler from the church. Some would probably say he deserved assassination. The current day Albinoni is stalked by the current day Stradella. Harry Grouch investigates using clues from the composer's music. What is driving the modern day Stradella and will Harry catch him in time?

When Mary Bedford dies in the hospital ICU, her family sues her doctor and the hospital almost before her corpse is delivered to the morgue. How did the family's lawyer find out about the death so soon and create litigation before ever subpoenaing the medical record in a legal manner? Something foul is going on. But what? Harry and Judy are recruited, first by the malpractice insurance firm of Crasse, Basse and Jones, and later by the FBI, to investigate an increasing tide of frivolous lawsuits against doctors and hospitals. It's a scam of national and international proportions with organized crime (the Russians?) pulling the strings. Corrupt lawyers and judges across the Country are working together to make sure that billions of dollars end up in their bank accounts. Anyone getting in the way of this crooked boondoggle is subject to violent threats and actions. Bodies show up on the shores of the Great Lakes with their feet missing; while on other shores shoes are washing up with the feet still inside. Is this the Mob's way of meting out punishment? Do such things really happen? Do some unscrupulous medical malpractice attorneys secretly pay hospital nurses to report patient incidents that could lead to profitable lawsuits? How else to explain these facts: doctors and hospitals are being besieged by dishonest lawsuits, skyrocketing insurance premiums, and ruined reputations. Patients are being exploited. What's to be done? When the FBI deputizes Harry to investigate, all becomes clear—but not before some dangerous adventures befall our favorite detectives. Our creative and sometimes hilarious gumshoes have their own brushes with violence, but survive to overcome and gather the evidence needed to finally bust up the scheme. By the way, long time fans of Harry Grouch and Judy Pacas have wondered if this detective duo would ever seal their romantic relationship with matrimony. Now it can be told.