Mark de Castrique's Books

Blackman's Coffin

By: Mark de Castrique

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A wealth of historical detail, an exciting treasure hunt and credible characters distinguish this fresh, adventurous read." —Publishers Weekly STARRED review Sam Blackman is an angry man. A Chief Warrant Officer in the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the U.S. military, he lost a leg in Iraq. His outspoken criticism of his medical treatment resulted in his transfer to the Veteran's Hospital in Asheville, NC. Disillusioned with the military, grieving over the recent death of his parents, and at odds with his brother, Sam's life is in shambles. Then an ex-marine and fellow amputee named Tikima Robertson walks into his hospital room. Tikima hints she has an opportunity for Sam to use his investigative skills—if he can stop feeling sorry for himself. But before she can return, Tikima is murdered, her body found floating in the French Broad River. Sam was the last person to see her alive. Tikima's sister, Nakayla, brings Sam a journal she finds in Tikima's apartment. A note stuck to the inside cover reads "For Sam Blackman." The volume dates to 1919 and contains the entries of a twelve-year-old boy who accompanies his father, a white funeral director, as they help a black man, Elijah Robertson, transport his deceased relative from Asheville to a small family plot in Georgia. The link to the present? Nearly 90 years ago, Elijah's body was also found in the French Broad River, a crime foreshadowing the death of his great-great-granddaughter Tikima. Sam and Nakayla must delve into Asheville's rich history, the legacy of the Vanderbilts at the Biltmore estate, and of author Tom Wolfe to uncover the murderous truth.

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266

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Sourcebooks, Inc.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1615950354

ISBN 13

9781615950355

Dangerous Undertaking

By: Mark de Castrique

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Dangerous Undertaking

By: Mark de Castrique

[A] marvelous mystery you won't want to put down." —Publishers Weekly Barry Clayton has a job he doesn't want. When his father became stricken with Alzheimer's, Barry left the Charlotte police force for the small mountain community of Gainesboro, North Carolina, where his family runs the local funeral home. "Buryin' Barry" reluctantly assumed the mantle of town undertaker, trying to fit his life into this somber profession. Almost at once it turns deadly. At the graveside service for an elderly woman, a grieving grandson strides in clad like Clint Eastwood in a duster, rips out a shotgun, and murders his family. Then the shooter turns the weapon on Barry. "Take a message to my grandmother," Dallas Willard shouts. "Tell her they tried to take the land. Tell her I love her." The blast hits Barry in the shoulder. Barry is not cut from the same black cloth as his father, and his irreverent wit and independence have already won him the friendship of the county sheriff, one-eyed war hero Tommy Lee Wadkins. Besides, Barry's a police pro. Trusting his wounds to the hands of local surgeon Susan Miller, Barry begins a search for both the killer and the reason for his crime. It isn't long before a second shooting occurs—but when Dallas Willard's body is discovered at the bottom of a quarry pond, it becomes clear that Gainesboro is caught in the grip of something more than a deadly family quarrel...

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234

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Sourcebooks, Inc.

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ISBN 10

1615950362

ISBN 13

9781615950362

Final Undertaking

By: Mark de Castrique

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Final Undertaking

By: Mark de Castrique

De Castrique offers original plots, strikingly human characters, and a heartwarming portrait of American culture. His writing is to be savored." —Library Journal STARRED review When Barry Clayton's father developed Alzheimers, Barry gave up his career in law enforcement to return to the North Carolina mountain town of Gainesboro and run the family funeral home. But even a small town in the Appalachians is not immune to crime. At a summer street dance, Barry's friend Sheriff Tommy Lee Wadkins is gunned down by an old man distraught at the death of his wife. To the dismay of Deputy Reece Hutchins, hospitalized Tommy Lee appoints Barry as the deputy in charge of the investigation. Who was the old man stalking? Why was a young woman who was wounded at the scene traveling with the intended victim? What at first appears to be a case of a mentally unstable summer tourist quickly develops into a tangled web of deceit stretching from western North Carolina to the Florida coast. Someone is preying upon senior citizens.... Barry realizes Deputy Hutchins is undercutting his investigation, but as potential witnesses and informants begin to die under mysterious circumstances, Barry confronts a conspiracy that runs so deep he no longer knows who to trust. One false step, one betrayal, will make this case Buryin' Barry's final undertaking.

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266

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Sourcebooks, Inc.

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ISBN 10

1615950370

ISBN 13

9781615950379

Hidden Scars

By: Mark de Castrique

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Hidden Scars

By: Mark de Castrique

Private investigators Sam Blackman and Nakayla Robertson have been given a cold case involving a suspicious death from 70 years ago. They don't have much hope of finding clues so long after the man's death but when they start searching and witnesses who may have information start dying, Sam and Nakayla realize their case is still hot.

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386

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Sam Blackman

Published Date

ISBN 10

1464208956

ISBN 13

9781464208959

Fatal Undertaking

By: Mark de Castrique

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Fatal Undertaking

By: Mark de Castrique

A tantalizing mystery full of humor and eccentric characters." —Booklist Funeral director and part-time sheriff Barry Clayton finds Archie Donovan's request absurd until he learns the casket will be the centerpiece of the Jaycees' haunted house, with all proceeds going to the children's hospital. But when the president of the Jaycees is found murdered in the casket on Halloween, the national press descends to cover the bizarre crime. The case presents no motive and no suspects. Then someone fires a shot at Donovan, and Barry wonders whether the victim in the casket was even the intended target. Barry's police work and personal life collide as his ex-wife Rachel comes to town hoping to use the case to launch a TV network career. Soon her prying creates a backlash that leaves another body in its wake. Barry must follow a trail of clues to an unexpected destination: a mountainside of Christmas trees. Somewhere behind them lurks a killer. Unmasking him may be a fatal undertaking.

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242

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Sourcebooks, Inc.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1615952586

ISBN 13

9781615952588

Foolish Undertaking

By: Mark de Castrique

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Foolish Undertaking

By: Mark de Castrique

Another stellar entry in an outstanding series that deserves wider recognition: the family focus and rural North Carolina setting make it a natural for Margaret Maron fans." —Booklist STARRED review The night before a funeral that will thrust the mountain town of Gainesboro, North Carolina, into the national spotlight, the body is stolen from the embalming room and funeral director Barry Clayton is knocked unconscious. Ouch. How will Clayton & Clayton deal with the relatives of Y'Grok Eban, the Montagnard hero who aided US troops during the Vietnam War, or the U.S. Senator, three-star general, and famous Hollywood star en route to Y'Grok's service? Barry's friend, Sheriff Tommy Lee Wadkins has a very personal interest in the missing Y'Grok—the Montagnard had saved his life. So does the Boston detective who also owes his life to Y'Grok and received a death-bed summons from the cancer-stricken old man: "Raven has come home." The three men pledge to crack Y'Grok's code, recover not just the body but a piece of a long-buried past, and deal with new death and betrayal. Is it a heroic or a foolish undertaking?

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266

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Sourcebooks + ORM

Published Date

ISBN 10

1615950397

ISBN 13

9781615950393

Secret Lives

By: Mark de Castrique

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Secret Lives

By: Mark de Castrique

Everybody has something to hide At 75-years-old, Ethel Fiona Crestwater is used to being underestimated. She looks like someone's grandma, though she's never married or had children; petite and a bit frail, she's not a threat to anyone. Or is she...? Ethel runs a boarding house for government agents, and when someone murders one of her boarders, she springs into action-much to the surprise of her distant cousin Jesse, who has recently come to stay with her while he attends university. As he watches her photograph the crime scene, conceal evidence, and speed-dial the Secret Service Director, Jesse realizes that there's much more to Ethel than appearances suggest. But when Jesse is assaulted and the gym bag full of cash Ethel had hidden is stolen from the basement, the pair decides it's time to launch their own unofficial investigation. With no one to trust but each other, these double-first-cousins-twice-removed form an unlikely bond, and learn that the only thing truly worth risking your life for is family.

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288

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Poisoned Pen Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1728258308

ISBN 13

9781728258300

The Sandburg Connection

By: Mark de Castrique

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The Sandburg Connection

By: Mark de Castrique

[A] marvelous blend of history and mystery..." —Publishers Weekly STARRED review It should have been routine, a simple assignment for PI Sam Blackman and his partner Nakayla Robertson. Follow a history professor who's suing a spinal surgeon for malpractice and catch her in physical activities that undercut her claim. When professor Janice Wainwright visits Connemara, Carl Sandburg's home in Flat Rock, N.C., and climbs the arduous trail to the top of Glassy Mountain, Sam believes he has the evidence needed to expose her—until he finds the woman semiconscious and bleeding on the mountain's granite outcropping. Her final words: "It's the Sandburg verses. The Sandburg verses." As the person to discover the dying woman, Sam becomes the first suspect. An autopsy reveals painkillers in her blood and solid proof of the surgeon's errors. Why did this suffering woman attempt to climb the mountain? Did she stumble and fall? Did someone cause her death? A break-in at the Wainwright farmhouse and the theft of Sandburg volumes convince Sam someone is seeking potentially deadly information. But what did Pulitzer Prize winner Sandburg have in his literary collection that inspires multiple murders? And who will be targeted next?

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304

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Sourcebooks, Inc.

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ISBN 10

1615953388

ISBN 13

9781615953387

Final Undertaking

By: Mark de Castrique

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Final Undertaking

By: Mark de Castrique

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266

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ISBN 10

1615950370

ISBN 13

9781615950379

Foolish Undertaking

By: Mark de Castrique

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Foolish Undertaking

By: Mark de Castrique

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266

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Sourcebooks + ORM

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1615950397

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9781615950393

Blackman's Coffin

By: Mark de Castrique

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Blackman's Coffin

By: Mark de Castrique

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266

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1615950354

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9781615950355

Fatal Undertaking

By: Mark de Castrique

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Fatal Undertaking

By: Mark de Castrique

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242

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1615952586

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9781615952588

The Fitzgerald Ruse

By: Mark de Castrique

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The Fitzgerald Ruse

By: Mark de Castrique

An excellent regional mystery, full of local color and historical detail." —Library Journal Former Chief Warrant Officer Sam Blackman lost a leg in Iraq and emerged from the V.A. hospital in Asheville, NC, as a bitter civilian without a job or a future. But when he solved a series of local murders, Sam found new meaning for his life. Now he and his partner, Nakayla Robertson, are opening a detective agency. They have high hopes that the thriving mountain region will provide a steady stream of cases. Their first client, a quirky elderly woman in a retirement community, makes a strange request. She wants Sam to right a wrong she committed more than 70 years ago. Her victim: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Her crime: stealing a manuscript. Sam's task seems simple enough: retrieve the woman's lockbox and deliver the manuscript to Fitzgerald's heirs. But nothing is simple for Sam. The lockbox is sealed with a swastika, a symbol his client insists predates the Nazis and reflects a scene from The Great Gatsby. Then a security guard is killed and the lockbox disappears. Not only has this investigation triggered a murder, but Sam's final military case has followed him from Iraq and neither he nor anyone close to him is safe....

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256

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Sourcebooks, Inc.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1615950389

ISBN 13

9781615950386

Dangerous Undertaking

By: Mark de Castrique

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Dangerous Undertaking

By: Mark de Castrique

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234

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ISBN 10

1615950362

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9781615950362

The Sandburg Connection

By: Mark de Castrique

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The Sandburg Connection

By: Mark de Castrique

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304

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1615953388

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9781615953387

A Murder in Passing

By: Mark de Castrique

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A Murder in Passing

By: Mark de Castrique

This fascinating mystery, merging past and present, brings some little-known history to light and shows that laws change much faster than attitudes..." —Booklist Things are slow at the Blackman & Robertson Detective Agency. So when Nakayla Robertson suggests a mushroom hunt at the historic, freed-slave commune The Kingdom of the Happy Land, Sam Blackman reluctantly agrees. Hunting the elusive edible, he stumbles into a rotting log...with a skeleton hidden inside. He's intrigued, but local authorities tell him to butt out. Then Marsha Montgomery comes to Asheville asking Sam and Nakayla to investigate a 45-year-old burglary at her mother's home. Someone stole a rifle and a photograph taken in 1932 at The Kingdom of the Happy Land. Is this just a coincidence? Then Marsha's 85-year-old mother Lucille is arrested for murder, and Sam knows something is amiss. Is the skeleton that of Jimmy Lang, Lucille's lover and Martha's father, a white man who disappeared in 1967? A veil of betrayal and deceit hides a killer desperate to protect a dark secret, and not even Sam is safe from the deadly consequences of a murder in passing.

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242

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Sourcebooks, Inc.

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ISBN 10

1615954600

ISBN 13

9781615954605

Murder in Rat Alley

By: Mark de Castrique

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Murder in Rat Alley

By: Mark de Castrique

In this unusual spin on the classic spy novel, murder strikes from our wartime pasts... Iraq War veteran Sam Blackman with his prosthetic leg and his no-nonsense private eye partner Nakayla Robertson love their investigations which always carry a thread from the past—and they love each other. An interracial couple in the new South, the Asheville, NC, pair has surrounded themselves with a terrific support team including an unorthodox lawyer and a veteran cop. They deploy humor both to bind them together and to deflect insults. Plus, it helps deal with the tragedies their work uncovers. Such a tragedy interrupts a meeting between the PIs and the neighboring law office when a body is unearthed from the grounds of the nearby Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute. During the Cold War it monitored developing space programs. Today it plays a vital role gathering weather and climate data. The body has been in the ground a long time. Why would its discovery spark off a new murder in Asheville's mountain music scene, the victim found amid the garbage of dark, dank Rat Alley? She was the fiancée of the man murdered long ago. But surely this case is more than a domestic drama playing out over time.... The Blackman Agency Investigations excel at merging past and present, bringing little-known history to light, and are perfect for fans of James Lee Burke, Stephen Mack Jones, Margaret Maron, and Robert B. Parker.

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221

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Sourcebooks, Inc.

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ISBN 10

1492699411

ISBN 13

9781492699415

Secret Undertaking

By: Mark de Castrique

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Secret Undertaking

By: Mark de Castrique

The dark humor, a small community in a regional mystery, and a strong supporting cast of believable characters will appeal to Margaret Maron's readers." —Library Journal STARRED review Towns like Gainesboro, North Carolina, may be small but go big on local traditions. When funeral director and part-time deputy sheriff Barry Clayton and his childhood nemesis, Archie Donovan, Jr., unite to create a fundraising float in Gainesboro's annual Apple Festival Parade, what could go wrong? With Archie involved—anything! First, the Grand Marshal, NC Secretary of Agriculture Graham James, is attacked by a gunman and Barry's Uncle Wayne is critically wounded in the melee. The assailant is killed. Then, when the body of a convenience store owner is discovered less than an hour later with the gunman's food stamp card in his wallet, the case escalates. Two men dead. What is the connection? Barry and Sheriff Tommy Lee Wadkins swiftly learn their small town offers no protection against big-time crime. The body count rises as the scope of their homicide investigation crosses into the realm of the U.S. Marshals and their secretive Witness Protection Program. To penetrate its walls, Barry and Tommy Lee resort to a most unlikely ally: Archie. Is the insurance agent, generally a victim of his own hare-brained schemes, capable of breaking the case, or will Archie find a way to become another of its casualties? The trio's secret undertaking into a convoluted conspiracy becomes a fight for survival in a world filled with betrayals where it's impossible to know which people to trust.

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231

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Sourcebooks, Inc.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1464210381

ISBN 13

9781464210389

The Fitzgerald Ruse

By: Mark de Castrique

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The Fitzgerald Ruse

By: Mark de Castrique

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256

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Sourcebooks, Inc.

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ISBN 10

1615950389

ISBN 13

9781615950386

A Conspiracy of Genes

By: Mark de Castrique

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A Conspiracy of Genes

By: Mark de Castrique

Gene Adamson thought he knew the answers. He thought he'd cracked the conspiracy wide open. He was so wrong. As a young girl's life hangs in the balance, seventeen-year-old Gene Adamson stumbles into a conspiracy so deadly the very knowledge of its existence marks him for death. . . . . . "The suspense builds to a brilliant conclusion ... This work is storytelling at its best totally drawing you into every event happening ... a great read and I give it a high recommendation." --Shirley Johnson, Senior Reviewer, MidWest Book Review

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180

Published Date

ISBN 10

1933523352

ISBN 13

9781933523354

A Murder in Passing

By: Mark De Castrique

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A Murder in Passing

By: Mark De Castrique

While hunting mushrooms on the site of a historic, freed-slave commune called The Kingdom of the Happy Land, Detective Sam Blackman stumbles upon a skeleton that is linked to Marsha Montgomery's white father and her mother's lover in 1967. Simultaneous.

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255

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Sam Blackman

Published Date

ISBN 10

146420151X

ISBN 13

9781464201516

Fatal Scores

By: Mark de Castrique

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Fatal Scores

By: Mark de Castrique

A river gives up its dead, but not its secrets... Sam Blackman and Nakayla Robertson, private investigators in Asheville, North Carolina, are hired when a local environmentalist dies while monitoring water quality in the nearby Pigeon River. With no soil or water samples found near the body, his widow doesn't believe his death was an accident. In fact, witnesses reported a public altercation between the environmentalist and local mill heir Luke Kirkpatrick just two days prior. Could Luke or his father, Ted, have committed murder to secure their proposed business expansion? Meanwhile, preparations for a local festival suffer violent setbacks, and the investigators worry the events are related. Can Sam and Nakayla identify the killer and serve justice before Asheville is threatened once again? The eighth book featuring Private Investigators Blackman and Robertson, Fatal Scores, is a timely mystery perfect for fans private eyes and anyone with a taste for regional history. Blackman Agency Investigations: Blackman's Coffin The Fitzgerald Ruse? The Sandburg Connection Murder in Passing

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Page Count

219

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Sourcebooks, Inc.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1464213178

ISBN 13

9781464213175

The 13th Target

By: Mark de Castrique

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The 13th Target

By: Mark de Castrique

Russell Mullins has left intelligence work. When his wife dies of ovarian cancer, Rusty quits the Secret Service to repurpose his life. He joins a Washington D.C. private protection company and is assigned to guard Paul Luguire, a Federal Reserve executive and chief liaison with the U.S. Treasury. Mullins and Luguire form a strong friendship. So when a police detective calls in the middle of the night with word of Luguire’s suicide, Mullins doesn’t buy it. His doubts are reinforced by Amanda Church, a former Secret Service colleague now in the Federal Reserve’s cyber-security unit. She uncovered a suspicious financial transaction initiated by Luguire only days before his death. He authorized unrequested funds to be transferred from the Federal Reserve to a regional bank. Even stranger, after Luguire’s suicide, Amanda finds the transaction has been erased from Federal Reserve records. The regional bank now shows the money wired from an offshore account in the name of Russell Mullins. Someone is setting Rusty up. And when the bank president is murdered, Mullins rockets to the top of the suspect list. In an age of Wall Street meltdowns and downgrading of the U.S. credit rating, the secretive Federal Reserve is compromised. Mullins and Church don’t know whom to trust. Evidence points to an external terrorist attack, but the web of deceit appears woven from within, a web that threatens to destroy the heart of America’s financial system. Twelve targets are known. The clock is ticking. What, or who, is the thirteenth?

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306

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Poisoned Pen Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1590586158

ISBN 13

9781590586150

The Sandburg Connection

A Sam Blackman Mystery

By: Mark de Castrique

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The Sandburg Connection

A Sam Blackman Mystery

By: Mark de Castrique

A simple assignment for private investigator Sam Blackman and his partner Nakayla Robertson: follow Professor Janice Wainwright, who’s suing a surgeon for malpractice, and catch her in activities that undercut her claim. When Wainwright visits Connemara, Carl Sandburg’s home in Flat Rock, N.C., and climbs the arduous trail to the top of Glassy Mountain, Sam believes he has the evidence needed to expose her—until he finds the woman semi-conscious and bleeding. Her final words: “It’s the Sandburg verses. The Sandburg verses.” As the first person to discover the dying woman, Sam becomes the prime suspect. When an autopsy reveals painkillers in her blood and solid proof of the surgeon’s errors, Sam is left with the haunting questions: why did this suffering woman attempt to climb the mountain? Did someone cause her death? A break-in at the Wainwright farmhouse and the theft of Sandburg volumes convince Sam someone is seeking information worth killing for. But what did Pulitzer-Prize-winner Sandburg have in his literary collection that has inspired multiple murders? And who will be targeted next? This is the third installment in the Sam Blackman series.

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290

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Poisoned Pen Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1590589416

ISBN 13

9781590589410

Grave Undertaking

By: Mark de Castrique

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Grave Undertaking

By: Mark de Castrique

[A] first-rate installment in an excellent series." —Booklist Barry Clayton has left the Charlotte police force to manage his ailing father's funeral home in the peace and quiet of the Appalachian mountains. But Buryin' Barry is an undertaker with a problem he keeps finding unwanted business. Moving a grave on a snowy mountainside should be routine. No funeral, no procession, no grieving widow to console. Routine until Barry unearths an unexpected intruder, a skeleton lying atop the original occupant. A bullet hole in the skull piques his ex-cop curiosity; the photograph of his girlfriend Susan Miller in the murdered man's wallet makes the case very personal. Suddenly, Barry's life is turned upside down, as Susan becomes the prime suspect. Joining forces with his pal Sheriff Tommy Lee Wadkins, Barry sets out to find the real killer. But a terrible secret had been buried in that mountain grave and one murder is only the down payment someone is willing to pay to keep it hidden. Barry is torn between discovering the solution to the crime and uncovering a part of Susan's past that could destroy their relationship. When the killer strikes again, Barry learns that even more is at stake. In a duel of deceit and misdirection, one thing becomes crystal clear. Barry's grave undertaking could very well lead to his own funeral.

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301

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Sourcebooks, Inc.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1615950400

ISBN 13

9781615950409

A Dying Business

A Comedy in Two Acts - Plus a Funeral

By: Mark de Castrique

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A Dying Business

A Comedy in Two Acts - Plus a Funeral

By: Mark de Castrique

When old Birdie Campbell dies, many in the NC mountain town of Ridgetop are not particularly sorrowed by her passing. But McAdams & Son Funeral Home still has to plan a service and find someone willing to say good things about the dearly departed. Birdie's death unleashes a string of events that threaten to destroy not only the civility of her service, but the funeral home itself. Stage Play presented as part of The New Plays in America and New Voices of the South series.

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Page Count

100

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Mark

Published Date

ISBN 10

0615648800

ISBN 13

9780615648804

The Singularity Race

By: Mark de Castrique

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The Singularity Race

By: Mark de Castrique

The Singularity—the looming point of no return when Artificial Intelligence surpasses human cognitive abilities, with consequences no one can foresee, and only a handful of people understand. Rusty Mullins, ex-Secret Service, has never heard of the Singularity. He only knows that after the deadly challenges of his last job for security firm Prime Protection, he swore he'd stop risking his life on assignments. Then his good friend Ted Lewison, head of Prime Protection, asks him back for a routine mission guarding Chinese scientist Dr. Lisa Li and her seven-year-old nephew, Peter, and Mullins agrees. The conference on AI bringing Dr. Li to Washington, DC, is barely under way when a team of assassins storms the room. The carnage is great but Mullins saves Dr. Li and Peter while the attackers kill the two other AI experts, along with Lewison. His widow begs Mullins to uncover the power behind the group claiming credit for the assassinations. Is "Double H" homegrown, or part of a larger international conspiracy? Enter eccentric tech billionaire Robert Brentwood who requests Mullins continue to guard Dr. Li and Peter. Brentwood seeks the Singularity and believes Dr. Li holds the key. Mullins agrees in exchange for running his investigation through Brentwood's extraordinary computer resources. The quest leads him on an unexpected path from Naval Intelligence and the Oval Office to a secret research lab in the North Carolina mountains. No one can be trusted—the race for the Singularity is a global winner-takes-all contest. Yet, terrifyingly, a machine with capacity exceeding human intelligence can outstrip all controls while possessing no moral or ethical brakes. As the AI stakeholders go all out, Mullins must face his own singularity—the point of no return—when not just he but his family and Dr. Li's will become casualties in what amounts to war.

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658

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Sourcebooks, Inc.

Published Date

ISBN 10

1464206007

ISBN 13

9781464206009

Foolish Undertaking

A Buryin' Barry Mystery

By: Mark de Castrique

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Foolish Undertaking

A Buryin' Barry Mystery

By: Mark de Castrique

The night before a funeral that will thrust the mountain town of Gainesboro, North Carolina, into the national spotlight, the body is stolen from the embalming room and funeral director Barry Clayton is knocked unconscious. Ouch. How will Clayton & Clayton deal with the relatives of Y’Grok Eban, the Montagnard hero who aided US troops during the Vietnam War, or the U.S. Senator, three-star general, and famous Hollywood star en route to Y’Grok’s service? Barry’s friend, Sheriff Tommy Lee Wadkins has a very personal interest in the missing Y’Grok—the Montagnard had saved his life. So does the Boston detective who also owes his life to Y’Grok and received a death-bed summons from the cancer-stricken old man: “Raven has come home.” The three men pledge to crack Y’Grok’s code, recover not just the body but a piece of a long-buried past, and deal with new death and betrayal. Is it a heroic or a foolish undertaking?

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Page Count

252

Publisher

Poisoned Pen Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1590582276

ISBN 13

9781590582275

The Fitzgerald Ruse

A Sam Blackman Mystery

By: Mark de Castrique

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The Fitzgerald Ruse

A Sam Blackman Mystery

By: Mark de Castrique

Former Chief Warrant Officer Sam Blackman lost a leg in Iraq and emerged from the V.A. hospital in Asheville, NC, as a bitter civilian without a job or a future. But when he solved a series of local murders, Sam not only brought the guilty to justice but found meaning for his life. Now he and his partner, Nakayla Robertson, are opening a detective agency. They have high hopes that the thriving mountain region will provide a steady stream of cases. Their first client, a quirky elderly woman in a retirement community, makes a strange request. She wants Sam to right a wrong she committed more than 70 years ago. Her victim was F. Scott Fitzgerald. Her crime was stealing a manuscript. Sam’s task seems simple enough: retrieve the woman’s lockbox and deliver the manuscript to Fitzgerald’s heirs. But nothing is simple for Sam. The lockbox is sealed with a swastika, a symbol his client insists predates the Nazis and reflects a scene from The Great Gatsby. Then a security guard is killed and the lockbox disappears. Not only has this investigation triggered a murder, but Sam’s final military case has followed him from Iraq and neither he nor anyone close to him is safe. Are the mysteries connected? Or is one a ruse luring him into the crosshairs of his enemies?

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254

Publisher

Poisoned Pen Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1590586298

ISBN 13

9781590586297

Fatal Undertaking

A Buryin' Barry Mystery

By: Mark de Castrique

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Fatal Undertaking

A Buryin' Barry Mystery

By: Mark de Castrique

“You want to borrow a casket?” Funeral director and part-time sheriff Barry Clayton finds Jaycee member Archie Donovan’s request absurd until he learns the casket will be the centerpiece of the Jaycees’ haunted house, a charity event with all proceeds going to the children’s hospital. But when the president of the Jaycees is found murdered in the casket on Halloween, the national press descends upon Gainesboro to cover the bizarre crime. Sheriff Tommy Lee Wadkins assigns Barry to be the lead investigator of a case that presents no motive and no suspects. Then someone fires a shot at Archie Donovan, and Barry wonders whether the victim in the casket was even the intended target. Barry finds his police work and personal life on a collision course as his ex-wife Rachel comes to town with high hopes of using the story to launch her TV network career. She begins prying into the lives of Gainesboro’s most distinguished citizens and creates a backlash that leaves another body in its wake. Barry Clayton must follow a trail of clues as winding as a forest path. The unexpected destination: a mountainside of Christmas trees. Somewhere behind them lurks a killer. Unmasking him may be a fatal undertaking.

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240

Publisher

Poisoned Pen Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1590588010

ISBN 13

9781590588017

Grave Undertaking

A Buryin' Barry Mystery

By: Mark de Castrique

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Grave Undertaking

A Buryin' Barry Mystery

By: Mark de Castrique

Barry Clayton has left the Charlotte police force to manage his ailing father’s funeral home in the peace and quiet of the Appalachian mountains. But Buryin’ Barry is an undertaker with a problem—he keeps finding unwanted business. Moving a grave on a snowy mountainside should be routine. No funeral, no procession, no grieving widow to console. Routine until the crew unearths an unexpected intruder, a skeleton lying atop the original occupant. A bullet hole in the skull piques Barry’s ex-cop curiosity; the photograph of his girlfriend Susan Miller in the murdered man’s wallet makes the case very personal. Suddenly, Barry’s life is turned upside down, as Susan becomes the prime suspect. Joining forces with his pal Sheriff Tommy Lee Wadkins, Barry sets out to find the real killer. But a terrible secret had been buried in that mountain grave and one murder is only the down payment someone is willing to ante up to keep it hidden. Barry is torn between discovering the solution to the crime and uncovering a part of Susan’s past that could destroy their relationship. When the killer strikes again, Barry learns that even more is at stake. In a duel of deceit and misdirection, one thing becomes crystal clear: Barry’s grave undertaking could very well lead to his own funeral.

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Page Count

324

Publisher

Poisoned Pen Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1590581164

ISBN 13

9781590581162

Death on a Southern Breeze

By: Mark de Castrique

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Death on a Southern Breeze

By: Mark de Castrique

The novel tells the story of an 1860 train journey from Charlotte to Charleston during which a teenage Citadel cadet and his twin sister team up with Allan Pinkerton's top detective to solve the on-board murder oa a hot-headed Southern secessionist. Multiple layers of intrigue confront the detecting trio as military espionage, industrial opportunism, and the secret workings of the Underground Railroad are concentrated in a passenger car filled with the tension of the times.

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Page Count

187

Published Date

ISBN 10

1933523344

ISBN 13

9781933523347

Book's by Mark de Castrique

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