Maggie Ryan Series

Vietnam, assassinations and riots. In the spring semester of 1968, a series of brutal attacks draws campus women together to study self-defense and the psychology of rape. Graduate student Mary Beth Nelson struggles to keep the Lords of Death at bay by immersing herself in researching Mayan languages. Her new housemate, Maggie Ryan, has her own secrets. When murder strikes close to home, Maggie investigates with a little help from her friends. This Mystery Company edition restores to print the second novel in the Maggie Ryan series, a 1986 Anthony Award nominee.

Nick and Lisette O’Connor need a change. They leave New York City for a semester as artists-in-residence at a college upstate, professional leads in a campus production of Hamlet. Threats and accidents follow Lisette, and Nick worries it might be more than just petty jealousy. Maggie Ryan, a student running lights for the show, helps investigate a mystery steeped in the turmoil of 1967 America. This Mystery Company edition restores to print the 1985 novel that introduced Maggie Ryan.

The exploding wastebasket is a prank, but slaughtered lab rats have graduate students Maggie Ryan, Monica Bauer and the rest of the lab on edge. When the custodian is murdered, actor Nick O'Connor goes undercover to investigate, a protective gesture Maggie does not appreciate. While Maggie and Nick search for the killer, Monica struggles to connect with a young man shot in the head in Vietnam. This Mystery Company edition restores to print the third novel in the Maggie Ryan series.

Realtor Len Trager is anxious to sell the brownstone in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood, but prospective buyers don't want to deal with Julia Northrup, who rents the basement apartment. Maggie Ryan and her husband Nick O'Connor love the property. They see though Julia's act, and they're not scared off by the corpse on the top floor. This Mystery Company edition restores to print the fourth novel in the Maggie Ryan series, a 1989 nominee for Macavity and Anthony Awards. "Carlson has put it all together wonderfully in this book: terrific characters, funny incidents, genuine suspense, and an absolutely right sense of period and place. If comparisons were in order, we'd say Maggie and Nick are as memorable a sleuthing team as Nick and Nora Charles or Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane – but there's no need to make comparisons. The series stands quite admirably on its own." – Tom & Enid Schantz, The Purloined Letter

Steve Bradford has a loving wife and a precious daughter, but he dreams of life in Venezuela with another woman. Nick O’Connor has been cast in a production with the famous Ramona Ricci. But there are new responsibilities too, as he and his wife, Maggie Ryan, are adjusting to life with a baby daughter of their own. Then Ramona is shot, and Steve puts Maggie at the heart of a dangerous deception.

On a sweltering summer day, reporter Olivia Kerr and her husband Jerry invite Olivia's colleague Dale Colby and his family to the beach. Accompanying them is a very pregnant Maggie Ryan, Jerry's sister, and her family. Dale's last-minute decision to remain at home to follow up on an important story results in a tragic discovery when the beach-goers return: Dale’s body in a pool of blood inside his locked office. Vietnam veteran turned police officer Holly Schreiner leads the investigation, battling Maggie—and demons of her own. This Mystery Company edition restores to print the sixth novel in the Maggie Ryan series, a 1992 Edgar Award nominee. “An ingeniously plotted, fair-play, locked-room mystery, one of the best we’ve encountered.” – Tom & Enid Schantz in The Denver Post

After an argument with her grandmother at her Maryland home, sixteen-year-old Ginny Marshall – “born rotten,” according to Gram – gets high and runs away. She turns up on the doorstep of Maggie Ryan and Nick O’Connor’s Brooklyn brownstone. Her presence in Brooklyn is unsettling, but, more urgently, Ginny is a suspect in a murder investigation back home. Maggie travels undercover to Maryland, where she searches for a killer as threads from the past threaten to unravel both families. “How great that Patricia Carlson’s entire Maggie Ryan series is back in print! She’s been a role model for women since the beginning and I loved watching her merge marriage and children with her talent for solving mysteries.” — Margaret Maron

Statistician Maggie Ryan returns to her alma mater to consult for Professor Charlie Fielding, who is conducting experiments on how skilled readers read. She is invited to a celebratory luncheon with retired professor Tal Chandler. But Chandler is found dead before he gets to the restaurant. The police say suicide, but Maggie offers a different reading of the crime scene, casting suspicion on Fielding, others in the psychology department and the dead man’s grieving widow. This Mystery Company edition restores to print the seventh novel in the Maggie Ryan series. “A tasty blend of irreverence (Carlson enjoys jokes at the expense of academics) and sincerity (her portrayal of the murder victim’s wife is touching). Maggie is an engaging everywoman – wife, mother, professional – who conducts her crime-busting with panache.” – Margot Mifflin in Entertainment Weekly