Double V Mysteries Series

A museum heist, a missing child, a murder, a recent ex-con and an even more recent widow.  How many times do we have to pay for our mistakes before life sends us a reprieve? Juliet Van Allen, museum administrator, discovers that her artist husband is having an affair with another woman. Elmer Vartanian, recently released from prison for a museum robbery, is coerced into helping scout her museum for a heist by a gang that has kidnapped his daughter. Juliet's husband is murdered. Did she kill him?  She needs an alibi – so does the ex-con. Cadmium Yellow, Blood Red is the first book in the Double V Mysteries series set in New England in the late 1940s and early 1950s. If you like the romance and charm of a classic film, this "cozy noir" will remind you of an era when dramatic stories were elegant, subtle, and even a grim dark alley might lead to the glamour of evening dress and a champagne cocktail. Enter a world where Modern Art meets old-fashioned murder and take a back seat in Juliet's sleek 1949 Lincoln Cosmopolitan for a fast ride to outrun danger – now.

Guests arrive to attend a wedding in a snowbound mansion on New Year's Eve.  A discovered note warns of danger at midnight.    Juliet Van Allen's wealthy widowed father is preparing to marry a much younger woman in the early hours of New Year's Day, but when it appears that one of the guests might carry out a threat, she calls in her friend, ex-con Elmer Vartanian to post as a hired servant to help ferret out the clues and prevent a murder...but midnight is approaching and time is running out.   Speak Out Before You Die is the second book in the Double V Mysteries series set in New England in the late 1940s and early 1950s.   If you like the romance and charm of a classic film, this "cozy noir" will remind you of an era when dramatic stories were elegant, subtle, and grim family secrets are revealed over a game of charades in evening dress, while sipping a champagne cocktail.   Enter a world where the second half of the Twentieth Century begins with a toast, a chorus of Auld Lang Syne, and a promise of revenge – now.

The owner of a wealthy estate is found dead of a heart attack after his morning horseback ride.  But his son suspects murder.  Is it his young stepmother?  His jealous wife?  The ne'er do well stable groom?  The trusted lawyer?  Or did the butler do it?   Juliet Van Allen and Elmer Vartanian, casual partners in the business of ferreting out murderers, take us to the cool, green hills of Litchfield, Connecticut, in the summer of 1950.  It is the eve of the annual horse show, and with the mansion full of glittering guests at the opening ball, the estate is full of suspects.   Dismount and Murder is the third book in the Double V Mysteries series set in New England in the late 1940s and early 1950s.   If you like the romance and charm of a classic film, this "cozy noir" will remind you of an era when character-driven stories were elegant, subtle—and where greed rears its ugly head over a silver tray of hors d'oeuvres in a ballroom of intrigue or under a caterer's tent on the lawn, while sipping a champagne cocktail.   It's murder among the horsey set as the pace quickens and there's danger in the paddock for sleuths who don't listen to warnings.

An incident from Juliet's past comes back to haunt her.  A priceless work of art brings her to a secret bunker.  An unidentified corpse is found in the river.  As if this day weren't bad enough…Juliet is kidnapped! Juliet Van Allen and Elmer Vartanian, casual partners in the business of ferreting out murderers, take us to the Berkshires of western Massachusetts in the bleak midwinter of 1951. What happens next is murder. Whitewash in the Berkshires is the fourth book in the Double V Mysteries series set in New England in the late 1940s and early 1950s. If you like the romance and charm of a classic film, this "cozy noir" will remind you of an era when character-driven stories were elegant, subtle—and a car chase in a 1947 Cadillac touring sedan brings us close to the edge of doom. It's murder in the art world, where the paintings aren't all that's being framed.

Rehearsals grow tense at a summer theater on the Connecticut shore.  The lead actress goes missing – or was she murdered? Juliet Van Allen and Elmer Vartanian, the "Double V" duo, are called in on the case, but even with Juliet pretending to be an actress and newcomer to the cast, the players are guarding their secrets closely.  There are spurned lovers, jealous wives, scene-stealers and heartbreakers, with enough spirit of vengeance to fill up the loge.  Will the show go on?  Even when a body is found? Murder at the Summer Theater is the fifth book in the Double V Mysteries series set in New England in the late 1940s and early 1950s. If you like the charm of a classic film, this "cozy noir" will return you to an era of soft ocean breezes and a glamorous game of suspicion played between acts.  The painted backdrop is the heyday of summer theatre, when greats from the New York stage and Hollywood performed in barns and tents on New England's famed "straw hat circuit." Passionate accusations and grim consequences lurk in the dressing room.  Join the nervous producers on the veranda for a champagne cocktail. It's a seaside caper where murder is in the spotlight in the summer of 1951, and Juliet and Elmer are on the verge of a new professional – and personal – partnership. 

Elmer and Juliet are called to help an attorney who is settling the estate of a deceased victim of polio, who had been treated in an iron lung at home.  At the time of his death, he was visited by his estranged brother.  Both men were found dead.  The estate will be bequeathed to the family of the brother who survived the other, even by minutes, so Juliet and Elmer must determine who died first.   But a greater mystery is revealed involving wartime secrets and unsettled scores.   Late summer of 1951 takes them on a train trip to Boston, to reunite with an old friend, to dance at Vaughn Monroe's nightclub in Framingham, and to change the life of a neglected child.  Polio stalks a nation in summertime, and drive-in restaurants and drive-in movies start to dot the new highways.   If you like the romance and charm of a classic film, this "cozy noir" will remind you of an era when character-driven stories were elegant, subtle—and pop culture of an era past comes alive again.   Danger…will come when least expected.

The week before Christmas 1951, Juliet and Elmer are hired by a retired factory owner to find the missing money his son-in-law stole sixteen years ago. The culprit is being released from prison. His wife is expecting him. So is her younger sister. So is the former co-worker who arrives to meet him at the train station with a gun.   Did the thief have an accomplice?  How many, Juliet and Elmer included, are going to follow him in hopes of retrieving the stolen money from its hiding place?   It's a holiday rush to get things done, and to wrap up old resentments, rivalries, and crimes, with a neat bow before the deadline of Christmas Eve when debts, and blackmail, comes due.   If you like the romance and charm of a classic film, this will remind you of an era of character-driven stories—and pop culture of times past comes alive again. But trouble sometimes comes in small packages.

The Double V Mysteries series begins in the spring of 1949 in Hartford, Connecticut, when a recent ex-con finds his fortunes, or misfortunes, linked with a recent widow whose husband is murdered.  Elmer Vartanian's and Juliet Van Allen's (their surnames are the Double V of the series title) share a mutually intriguing crime-solving partnership that continues from Cadmium Yellow, Blood Red, the first book in the series; through a New Year's Eve party in a snowbound mansion in Speak Out Before You Die; and a horse show in Dismount and Murder in the summer of 1950.   This eBook "box set" is comprised of those first three books in the series. If you like the romance and charm of a classic film, this "cozy noir" will remind you of an era when character-driven stories were elegant, subtle, and even a grim dark alley might lead to the glamour of evening dress and a champagne cocktail.