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Mystery Novels by John Dandola PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL INDEPENDENT BOOKSELLERS. One of the largest gatherings of independent booksellers on the internet is Biblio.com which offers old-fashioned bookstore service, a very thorough search engine, and online ordering via credit card. All of John's books are listed there and they are all shipped directly from the publisher. Due to the impossibly deep discounts demanded from independent publishers by Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com, and Barnes & Noble retail stores, John's titles are no longer available through any of those outlets. Dead at the Box Office An Edie Koslow-Tony Del Plato Mystery In 1940, Hollywood decided to pay homage to a small New Jersey town. It was where Thomas Alva Edison had lived and worked for nearly fifty years, ultimately making it the birthplace of motion pictures. What better place to hold the World Premiere of Spencer Tracy's Edison, the Man? The idea seemed not only flawless but guaranteed to generate terrific pressuntil a series of sexual murders breaks out a week before the festivities are scheduled to begin. Already straddled with the ever-reticent Spencer Tracy and overly exuberant starlet Ann Rutherford, M.G.M. publicity girl Edie Koslow is forced to reluctantly hush the crimes and then just as reluctantly solve them in the midst of studio manipulations and small town politics with only the help and protection of a local mystery man. "An ironically funny picture of the differences between west coast film executives and [an] east coast residential community...It is these ironic ideas, the reality of the period, and the discrepancies in fact that create humor in the retelling." The Essex Journal "Dandola infuses a sense of humor about movie-making and the glamour and glitz associated with Hollywood." The Star-Ledger Dead in Their Sights An Edie Koslow-Tony Del Plato Mystery Set in 1942, two years after the Edison, the Man debacle which first introduced her to readers, M.G.M. publicity girl Edie Koslow is reassigned to the studio's Manhattan offices. Thanks to her mentor, M.G.M. East Coast Publicity Chief Howard Dietz, a simple favor to help promote a new Broadway ingenue once again lands Edie in the middle of small town New Jersey politics and murder. With circumstances set in motion by legendary producer George Abbott and actress Joan Caulfield, Edie's run-of-the-mill assignment eventually becomes complicated by Thomas Edison's sons, Nazi saboteurs, British Military Intelligence, the I.R.A., the F.B.I., and entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. In the ensuing mayhem, Edie's disquieting relationship with Tony Del Plato is also put to the test. "Edie Koslow and Tony Del Plato reteam in this sequel to Dead at the Box Office. Although darker than their first outing, Dandola's affable writing style and his
extraordinary grasp of time, place, and subject matter still gives the reader
a wonderfully perceptive inside-out view of movie studios and small town politics."
International Titles "[With] a great deal of research to ensure historical accuracy...Dandola has certainly carved out a place for himself as a regionalist writer; perhaps [West Orange's] first." Suburban Essex Magazine "History and mystery merge in West Orange and many are the familiar figures in this story set in 1942 about World War II rumors centering on the Edison factory..." 'Jersey Ink,' The Star-Ledger "[Dandola's] roots in the area enable him to fill his mysteries with so much local
color and detail that even readers unfamiliar with the town can create vivid
pictures of it in their minds....One can almost hear the Irish, English, and Norwegian
accents as the characters come to life." Seton Hall Magazine Dead by All Appearances An Edie Koslow-Tony Del Plato Mystery When Teddy Edison, youngest son of the late Thomas Alva Edison, asks Tony Del Plato to investigate some odd occurrences at the castle laboratory of millionaire inventor John Hays Hammond, Jr., it is a request more for Tony's much needed change of scenery than out of any real necessity. While leaving West Orange, New Jersey, might prove to be therapeutic following the recent events in Tony's life, little could anyone foresee that this forced vacation on the restful and beautifully rocky coastline of Massachusetts would ultimately involve local gangsters, murder, and espionage. Adding to the confusion is a scheduled remote radio broadcast from the castle not to mention an unexpected rivalry between M.G.M. publicity girl Edie Koslow and Paramount actress Marjorie Reynolds, who is visiting after a War Bond tour in Boston to promote her new film, Holiday Inn. "Well-written by American author John Dandola, these thrillers unveil an odd and novel pair of amateur detectives: a movie publicity girl and a barber, who is one authentic and intriguing Italian-American." Giornale di Sicilia "Through movie publicist Edie Koslow and local barber Tony Del Plato, whose mysterious skills go well beyond hairstyling, Dandola presents Edison family history, small-town politics, and Tinsel Town gossip of the period and melds them seamlessly." Mystery Scene Magazine Wind of Time A Jeffrey Devereaux-Kirsten Eriksson Novel "In the year 1123, Bishop Eirik went in search of Vinland." So reads the very terse entry which appears in six different Icelandic annals. Yet no further explanation or resolution is offered leaving the inevitible conclusion that the bishop was never heard from again. Nearly nine centuries later, teacher and amateur historian Jeffrey Devereaux has
a chance meeting with Kirsten Eriksson, the girl of Icelandic heritage who had
been his first adolescent crush. When her reading of mystical runestones at a Renaissance
Faire finally brings their love to fruition, subsequent visits to Kirsten's
home on Cuttyhunk Island, a mysterious stone tower in Newport, Rhode Island,
and Hammond Castle Museum on the coast of Massachusetts plunge them into
history and carry them from 20th to 12th century New England, where they face the
ghosts of Bishop Eirik's lost Norse settlement and their own very personal connections
to the past. "One of those 'you-can't-put-it-down-books'!" Salem J. David, No Man's Land Island: History & Legends "The mysterious cylindrical ruin in Newport's Touro Park is a the center of [this] romantic novel that turns on Viking legends...to solve an ancient mystery...perfect...fun." Providence Journal-Bulletin "Dandola adds a new slant to the mystery surrounding Newport's Stone Mill Tower." Newport Daily News Wicked is the Wind A Jeffrey Devereaux-Kirsten Eriksson Novel Epiphany, Massachusetts, had been founded by Shakers and rescued from fire by Civil War veterans of the famous 54th Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers. The soldiers and their families were invited to settle and, as the Shakers died off, the town developed into a predominent black community. Unfortunately, such a rich history hasn't prevented present-day Epiphany from becoming the embodiment of municipal turmoil. Its neglected historic buildings are crumbling; its real estate values are plummeting; its merchants are relocating; and its corrupt politicians are squabbling over who's to blame. Making matters worse, new construction has been halted in a drained tidal marsh when seemingly ancient artifacts are uncovered there. After one of Kirsten Eriksson's friends becomes involved, amateur historian Jeffrey Devereaux is asked to make an inspection of the site. But the political climate and an ensuing murder nearly obliterate Jeffrey's conclusion that the artifacts may actually pre-date Epiphany's founding by centuriesa turn of events which brings his affiliation with Hammond Castle Museum very much into play. "With colorful characters, great dialogue, and a solid sense of humor...author John Dandola places Kirsten Eriksson and Jeffrey Devereaux in a cozy murder mystery employing her psychic tendencies and his passion for history." International Titles The Unbound Wind A Jeffrey Devereaux-Kirsten Eriksson Novel The rock carving in Westford, Massachusetts, had been the subject of debate for a good many years. Romantics claimed it to be the effigy of a medieval knight killed during some pre-Columbian exploration. Detractors claimed it to be partially Native American with whimsical enhancements made by nineteenth-century schoolboys. After visiting Westford as a favor to a military miniaturist who is researching the carving, Jeffrey Devereaux and Kirsten Eriksson begin experiencing turmoil in their own daily lives. Things only worsen when the curator of Hammond Castle Museum allows his usual indecisiveness to jeopardize not only their long-standing personal friendship but their future working relationship as well. When a member of the museum's Board of Directors turns up dead after a Renaissance Faire on the castle grounds and another death occurs during a toy show in the castle's Great Hall, Kirsten can't help but wonder about the origin of the Westford effigy and the possibility that all of these misfortunes are somehow connected with it. "Dandola has created simple, thoughtful, clever layers and crafted them into a deceptively complex whole. History, mystery, humor, and social statement are mixed well with a delightfully odd ghost story." International Titles Independent Mystery Booksellers by State | The Author's Hammond Castle Site | Home Copyright © 20002009 John Dandola, Ltd. All rights reserved. |
