Showing results by author "Neil S. Plakcy" in All Categories

Two cozy novellas explore murder, mystery, and mayhem at the local dog park in this unique collection from authors Neil S. Plakcy and Joanna Campbell Slan.

In Food of the Dogs, Steve and his bride Lili head to Vermont for a relaxing honeymoon—until Rochester uncovers a murder victim. Their romantic getaway turns into a dangerous search for a killer hiding among small-town secrets. Dog Grant Me finds Steve back at Friar Lake Conference Center, where a winter cooking course becomes the setting for threatening notes, political intrigue, and a student’s murder. As a blizzard closes in, Steve, Lili, and Rochester must unmask a killer before the storm traps them with a murderer.

When the Cuisine Network brings its brand-new reality show, Dog’s Kitchen , to the peaceful Friar Lake Conference Center, Steve Levitan expects chaos—but not sabotage. Celebrity chefs, foodie influencers, and gourmet-loving dogs descend on the property, turning Steve’s summer into a whirlwind of barking, baking, and behind-the-scenes drama. His golden retriever, Rochester , just wants to stay close to the food.

Forty-two-year-old Steve Levitan has lost everything that matters to him: his marriage, his home, and his career. After finishing a brief prison term for computer hacking, he returns to his home town of Stewart's Crossing, PA, with his tail between his legs. With his parole officer peering over his shoulder, Steve begins a technical writing business and takes a part-time job as an adjunct professor of English at his alma mater Eastern College.

A Body at the Purim Carnival. A Hidden Past. A Community in Danger. When his golden retriever Rochester noses out a dead body behind the bounce house at Stewart’s Crossing’s first Purim carnival, Steve Levitan is pulled into two dangerous investigations, each revealing its own world of secrets, power, and betrayal.

He’s covering Formula 1’s hottest rising star.‎ He never expected it to be the man who broke his heart. ‎Journalist Wally Pulaski is sent to cover Formula 1’s most exciting rising star—‎Jonathan Hirsch.‎ The same Jonathan Hirsch he lost in college—and never got over. ‎Now Jonathan is on the verge of a championship, with the world watching his ‎every move. Wally’s job is to report the truth. No bias. No exceptions.‎

Fresh out of Florida University with a degree in construction management, Manny lands his dream job with Loredo Construction. He’s crushing hard on his thirty-something boss, Walter Loredo: a sexy, successful, and supposedly straight alpha male who commands attention on every job site.

When his mentor, Joe Dagorian, director of admissions at prestigious Eastern College, is murdered during a fundraising event, Steve Levitan feels obliged to investigate. He and his golden retriever, Rochester, go nose to the ground to dig up clues, including a bloody knife and some curious photographs. But will Steve’s curiosity and Rochester’s savvy save them when the killer comes calling? A cozy mystery for dog lovers!

From the sun-drenched hills of the French Riviera to the frozen shadows of Chechnya, bodyguards Aidan Greene and Liam McCullough return for three deeply personal—and deeply dangerous—assignments in this gripping audio bundle.

When Eastern College launches its first winter intersession program, administrator Steve Levitan is excited to host a course on Caribbean cuisine at Friar Lake Conference Center. His wife Lili is co-teaching with her friend, prominent food anthropologist Dr. Yesenia Ubeda. But before the first meal is served, threatening notes appear, old documents surface with explosive implications for US-Cuba relations, and a student with a hidden agenda is found murdered. With his golden retriever Rochester at his side, Steve must untangle a web of long-buried secrets and dangerous obsessions.

Stop by for some comfortable visits to Stewart's Crossing, where reformed computer hacker Steve Levitan and his crime-sniffing golden retriever Rochester are nose to the ground in this collection of mystery short stories that take place between novels. In the first of these stories, Steve is learning to love the big, goofy golden he has inherited on the death of his neighbor, and Rochester shows him how to open his heart and his home to his sweetheart Lili.

Mahu Surfer, the second book in my Mahu Investigations mystery series, sends gay Honolulu homicide detective Kimo Kanapa’aka back to his surfing past. His new boss asks the former competitive surfer to go undercover on Oahu’s North Shore to find the killer of three surfers. The catch: He can't tell any of his family or friends that he has returned to the force, causing him to lie, when he has just come out of the closet and begun to tell the truth about his life. In his return to the North Shore, Kimo discovers trouble in paradise.

An Alzheimer’s patient slips away from home on his own and tumbles into the Delaware River. And then Steve’s love Lili suffers the crushing loss of her mother in a Miami Beach hospital. Eckhardt Lalor left behind a fortune in real estate, a fractured family, and a bitter legacy as a city slumlord. Does that add up to murder? There’s no question of what killed Benita Weinstock — a dodgy heart — but her death rocks her daughter’s world, and Steve’s. It will be up to Rochester to solve the crime and heal his humans in this new mystery with heart — and fur.

If you love Christmas whodunits, small-town sleuths, and canine partners who always sniff out the truth, this festive double-feature brings together two fan-favorite series: Steve & Rochester from the Golden Retriever Mysteries and Kiki & Gracie from the Kiki Lowenstein Mysteries.

Mahu Fire begins as openly gay Honolulu homicide detective Kimo Kanapa’aka attends a local charity event in support of gay marriage. When a bomb disrupts the gala, Kimo, his family, and friends are thrust into a deadly contest between good and evil. A wave of religious fundamentalism sweeps through O’ahu, at the same time as violence against gay and lesbian-owned businesses is on the rise. Coincidence? Kimo doesn’t think so. Working with hunky fire inspector Mike Riccardi, Kimo digs through the ashes to discover a motive for the attacks, as well as who is behind them.

From the moment he sees handsome Liam McCullough showering naked behind a Tunisian bar, ESL teacher Aidan Greene wants to make love to the sexy bodyguard. At first, though, a dead courier and beefy hired thugs get in the way. But as soon as Liam and Aidan head toward a rendezvous with a Tuareg tribe at a remote oasis, they start getting naked together and exploring all the passion Liam hid from as a closeted Navy SEAL and all the love Aidan missed from a long-term boyfriend who has just kicked him to the curb.

Openly gay Honolulu homicide detective Kimo Kanapa’aka is faced with a new murder that comes dangerously close to his personal life. About a year and a half has passed since the flames engulfed Waahila Ridge State Park at the end of Mahu Fire. During that time, Kimo and fire investigator Mike Riccardi dated for about six months, but with Kimo so visible and Mike in the closet, the pressures on them increased to the point where their relationship ended. When a fire breaks out at a shopping center Kimo's father used to own and a young boy is killed, they are forced to work together.

There’s a new dog in town--a golden retriever named Luke, in training to be a seeing-eye dog. He and Rochester immediately bond, but there’s something odd about Luke’s human, Ben Ji. How can someone so young afford an expensive townhouse on Sarajevo Way? When Ben is shot, Steve begins to discover the lies he has been telling.

Three charming cozy mysteries with heart-- and fur! Stolen treasures, a cane-whacking elderly woman and a couple of dead bodies. Join Steve Levitan and Lili Weinstock as they navigate the treacherous waters of wedding planning-- and murder.

Peggy was a great friend to Steve when they were teens. Can he help her now as she faces the death penalty? As teens, semi-reformed hacker Steve Levitan admired his friend Peggy because of the way she fought back from a difficult childhood to travel to France and aspire to a college degree and a career as a lawyer.