By Blood Written
by Steven Womack
from Harper
At first, it was only research . . .
Author Michael Schiftmann has received resounding critical acclaim for his novels that few people buy or read. The sad truth is that readers aren't interested in great literature—they only want glitz and violence. So that's what Michael intends to give them—shocking stories of a blood-chillingly efficient serial killer that are filled with gore and horror. And to ensure that his books are impeccably realistic in every aspect, he plans to try his own hand . . . at murder.
Soon his fictional killer is a sensation, and Michael is a rich, sought-after celebrity—and his beautiful, rising-star literary agent, Taylor Robinson, is falling in love with him. But there is one serious problem: Michael Schiftmann has discovered that bloodletting feels good . . . and he can't seem to stop.
The Software Bomb
Chain of Fools (Harry James Denton Mysteries)
by Steven Womack
from Fawcett
FOOLS RUSH IN. . .
I'd done some crazy stuff off-and-on the last couple of years. My life had gone off in some weird directions. But nothing could match yanking a stoned, naked, sick seventeen-year-old girl out of a murder scene and sneaking her off under the nose of the police.
Harry James Denton is no fool. But his search for a rich runaway teen, Stacey Jameson, takes him to the seamy and very wild side of Nashville. Nobody's chain lays straight, a friend tells Harry. But Stacey's is especially twisted, with links that lead back to a family filled with secrets. Even a hardboiled P.I. like Harry isn't prepared for what awaits him in the depths of hard-core hell, where only he can save a lost girl before she destroys herself or lets a ruthless murderer do it for her.
"Steven Womack has done for male private eye fiction what Grafton and Paretsky did for women operatives in the Eighties, and if you haven't heard of him yet, you will."
--Mostly Murder
Murphy's Fault: A Mystery (Jack Lynch Trilogy)
Dead Folks' Blues
by Steven Womack
from Ballantine Books
EDGAR AWARD WINNER--Best Paperback Original Mystery 1993.
When Rachel Fletcher, an old college flame, enters Harry James Denton's office needing his private detecting services, he'd rather not. But he prefers money to poverty, and agrees to find out what kind of dangerous business her husband is mixed up in. Conrad Fletcher is a rich surgeon with a lot of enemies. He also owes big money to a very big, very bad bookie. But by the time Harry catches up with Fletcher, he's gone from being in debt to being dead. The list of suspects could fill the Grand Ole Opry, and Harry's search for the killer will lead him into the partsof Nashville that no one ever sings about--unless they're singing the DEAD FOLKS' BLUES.
"A deft, atmosphere-rich novel: smart, funny, and filled with a sense of wry heartbreak. Steven Womack's Nashville stands out--it is a beautifully drawn backdrop."
James Ellroy
From the Paperback edition.
Dirty Money
by Steven Womack
from Ballantine Books
THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL
How did Nashville P.I. Harry James Denton wind up working as a handyman in a world-famous brothel in Reno? Because the Feds made him a proposition: help smoke out a major money laundering operation secretly being run in Reno's legendary legal cathouse, the Mustang Ranch.
After failing to reconcile with his ex, who is expecting their child, doing some simple snooping in a mansion full of gorgeous girls sounds like a good deal to Harry. But it's a raw deal when one of the Mustang girls turns up savagely murdered and Harry is pegged as the prime suspect. The only way to save his neck is to risk it--and that means making a Nevada-size gamble that he can corner a killer who is holding all the aces. . . .
From the Paperback edition.
Smash Cut (Jack Lynch Trilogy)
Torch Town Boogie (Harry James Denton Mysteries)
by Steven Womack
from Fawcett
EDGAR AWARD winning author Steven Womack...
In book two of the P.I. Harry James Denton series, Harry finds his next case across the street, when a magnificent mansion in the funky part of town is torched. The blaze has all the earmarks of a local firebug, but this time someone is murdered. The bludgeoned and left-to-burn victim was a well-known psychotherapist...and the man that Harry's ex-wife, Lanie, was about to marry. Thanks to the doctor's will, which leaves a chunk of money to his fiancee, the cops think Lanie is the killer. It's up to Harry to match wits with the match-flicking maniac before his ex goes up the river...and more lives go up in flame....
Way Past Dead (Harry James Denton Mysteries)
by Steven Womack
from Fawcett
With his cash flow down to a slow drip, times are tight for Nashville gumshoe Harry James Denton. Things are tough all over Music City, U.S.A. And in some instances, they're murder, as Harry finds out the hard way when he lands a case he'd rather not touch.
When rising country singer Rebecca Gibson is found viciously beaten to death in her home, a heap of damning evidence points straight to her ex-husband, Slim Gibson -- half of the struggling songwriting team with whom Harry shares office space and an occasional beer. Slim and Rebecca were last seen making beautiful music at a local club just hours before the killing. Yet while probing beneath the sweet harmony, Harry discovers the dark history of a marriage made somewhere south of heaven -- and delves into the cutthroat world of the C&W music business, where deceit, betrayal, passion, and vengeance are sung about . . . and ruthlessly performed.
"A rising star among the current crop of American novelists." -- Nashville Banner
Murder Manual
by Steven Womack
from Ballantine Books
ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW ABOUT MURDER
I LEARNED IN NASHVILLE
The bestselling toast of Tennessee, author Robert Jefferson Reed has made big bucks with his little book of folksy homilies like "Never go to bed angry" and "Eat your vegetables." He should have included "Don't commit murder." For when Reed's wife hires P.I. Harry James Denton to catch her hubby in a tryst with a sexy secretary, Harry finds the author of Life's Little Maintenance Manual strangled and drowned in his own hot tub.
Caught at the scene of the crime, Harry is pegged as the prime suspect and must work double duty to avoid the specter of prison--and to pluck a murderer out of a dead man's tangled past. . . .
From the Paperback edition.
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