Walter Satterthwait's Books

Wilde West

By: Walter Satterthwait

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

A ruthless killer shadows Oscar Wilde across the frontier in this “perfect blend of mystery, satire and travelogue” by the author of Miss Lizzie (Publishers Weekly). An outrageously controversial literary icon in Great Britain, Irish poet, novelist, and playwright Oscar Wilde has taken his act to America in 1882. The renowned wit is thrilling audiences on his tour of the American West, while gleefully soaking in the rugged ambiance of dusty cow towns and rough saloons. But all isn’t well on the lecture circuit. At every stop, soon after Wilde’s arrival, eviscerated corpses of redheaded prostitutes are turning up—a grim “coincidence” that hasn’t been lost on dour, alcoholic federal marshal Bob Grigsby. Apparently there’s a serial killer hiding among the writer’s traveling entourage: a motley group of managers, servants, and European aristocrats that has lately included the famed gunman John “Doc” Holliday. Between his liaisons with married admirer Elizabeth McCourt Doe and fending off potential assaults by unamused cowboys, the flamboyant dandy decides it might be prudent to assist Grigsby in his investigation. After all, his reputation has already been savaged. Unmasking a killer might help to repair it—as long as the manhunt remains entertaining enough . . . and Wilde lives to quip another day.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

331

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1453251235

ISBN 13

9781453251232

Perfection

By: Walter Satterthwait

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Perfection

By: Walter Satterthwait

Sgt. Jim Fallon and Det. Sophia Tregaskis, of the St. Anselm (Florida) Police Department, have a mess on their hands. Literally. The crime scene at 25 Pelican Way is the most horrific Fallon's ever seen or Sophia's ever imagined. It seems that the killer attacks women of size -- Marcy Fleming is only his first -- and uses the fearsome implements in his black leather satchel to shape their bodies to a more svelte model. Working intermittently with Dr. Eva Swanson, a psychologist Marcy had briefly consulted, the two detectives reverse the killer's procedure, building up a picture of him piece by piece.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

344

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0312352441

ISBN 13

9780312352448

Cavalcade

By: Walter Satterthwait

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Cavalcade

By: Walter Satterthwait

Pinkerton agents Jane Turner and Philip Beaumont have just finished another difficult assignment abroad; now the office is sending them to Germany. Their job: to find the assassin who almost succeeded in killing Adolf Hitler when he was in Berlin. Their first surprise is a pleasant one---the Nazi big shot assigned to be their guide, Ernst (Putzi) Hanfstaengl, is a huge, jovial man who amazes his guests immediately; his English is almost without any accent! Hanfstaengl has learned American ways during his student days at Harvard. He is a talented pianist and as friendly as a puppy. Jane and Phil have no reason to think his fellow Nazis are not just as personable. This isn't going to be so bad. Everything starts to go downhill after that, however, although a handsome Nazi almost turns Jane's head with his attentions. Their job becomes a questionable one as the agents see more and more of the new party's dreadful face. A woman who gives them some information is found murdered. There are other deaths, all clearly connected to the Nazi Party. By the time Jane and Phil meet Hitler, they are not only horrified and puzzled about why the Pinkerton agency accepted the job, they are very aware that they are in danger themselves. Walter Satterthwait has uncannily taken his readers to the Germany of 1923, introducing them to characters from the actual front pages of the period's newspapers---Hanfstaengl, Rudolf Hess, and many others. As in the previous two books of this series, the crimes that Turner and Beaumont encounter are committed against a genuinely historical background. It all adds up to a suspenseful story of two likable people at risk in the treacherous atmosphere of Germany's postwar nightmare.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

380

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0312339747

ISBN 13

9780312339746

New York Nocturne

The Return of Miss Lizzie

By: Walter Satterthwait

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

New York Nocturne

The Return of Miss Lizzie

By: Walter Satterthwait

Lizzie Borden and Amanda Burton join forces with Dorothy Parker to solve a grisly murder in Prohibition-era New York in this “assured and witty” mystery (Publishers Weekly). Sixteen-year-old Amanda Burton is thrilled to be spending the summer in New York City at her glamorous uncle John’s apartment in the Dakota while her parents are off visiting Tibet. It’s 1924, the decade is roaring, and she’s out on the town every night with her father’s flamboyant younger brother—seeing Broadway shows, going to fancy restaurants and speakeasies, meeting John’s rich and famous friends, and even an occasional gangster. It’s all great fun—until the morning she stumbles upon her uncle dead on the floor with a hatchet blade buried in his skull. And with Amanda as the prime murder suspect, the New York City cops consider the case as good as closed. Luckily the hapless teen has an old ally in town: the infamous—albeit acquitted—alleged axe murderess Lizzie Borden. Miss Lizzie and her new pal, the renowned acerbic wit Dorothy Parker, are on the job faster than you can say, “Forty whacks.” But trolling the glittering New York night scene and underworld for a killer can be a dangerous occupation for an old lady with a shady past, a sharp-witted literary icon, and a teenager with a history of violently losing relatives—especially when they keep turning up dead bodies.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

318

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504028104

ISBN 13

9781504028103

The Hanged Man

A Joshua Croft Mystery

By: Walter Satterthwait

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Hanged Man

A Joshua Croft Mystery

By: Walter Satterthwait

At a meeting of thirteen of Santa Fe's leading New Age healers, Quentin Bouvier, a magician and possibly a reincarnated Egyptian pharaoh, has been hanged from the rafters. He outbid Leonard Quarry for astrologer Eliza Remington's antique tarot card and now he's dead and the tarot card is missing. The police quickly arrest Giacamo Bernardi, a tarot reader, and charge him with the murder and theft. Bernardi's court-appointed attorney hires private investigator Joshua Croft to prove Bernardi's innocence. Suspects from the meeting and the community abound, including astrologers and psychics, a young hermit immersed in "Spiritual Alchemy," an aging movie star who acts as a medium for an entity from Alpha Centauri, a Native American shaman who gets accountants in touch with their warrior within, and a mysterious Asian woman whose equally mysterious brother displays a near-lethal familiarity with martial arts.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

276

Publisher

UNM Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0826333656

ISBN 13

9780826333650

Wall of Glass

A Joshua Croft Mystery

By: Walter Satterthwait

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Wall of Glass

A Joshua Croft Mystery

By: Walter Satterthwait

Joshua Croft wasn't looking for trouble. It just managed to find him. While Santa Fe private investigator Joshua Croft wasn't exactly comfortable fencing a stolen diamond necklace, he did have a living to make. But when the small-time cowboy who'd offered him the deal was murdered, Croft knew he was into something hotter than hot ice. In the posh section of Santa Fe, raw earth is as chic as sushi, and the trail of dirt Croft follows leads to even dirtier secrets, kinky sex, drugs, and double dealings--and a second murder that strikes just a little too close for comfort.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

256

Publisher

UNM Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0826328873

ISBN 13

9780826328878

At Ease with the Dead

By: Walter Satterthwait

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

At Ease with the Dead

By: Walter Satterthwait

A Santa Fe PI’s search for stolen Native American bones unearths dark deeds and a fresh murder in a gripping mystery “reminiscent of Tony Hillerman” (Booklist). Private investigator Joshua Croft never expected to see Daniel Begay again after he helped the elderly Native American fend off a group of abusive rednecks. But now the old man has come to Croft’s Santa Fe office with a bizarre request: He wants the detective to recover human bones that have been missing since 1925. The skeleton of Ganado, a Navajo warrior, was stolen decades earlier by Dennis Lessing, who found them while he was searching for oil on sacred Native American land. Less than a month later, Lessing was killed, and Ganado’s bones have not been seen since. What at first seems like a relatively harmless—if hopeless—pursuit grows graver by the hour, as Croft’s search takes him from the halls of an El Paso university to the hard lands of the Navajo Reservation. But when his digging into the past starts to uncover other skeletons besides Ganado’s, Croft may be the next one to fall victim to someone desperate enough to kill to keep secrets buried.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

211

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1453251286

ISBN 13

9781453251287

A Flower in the Desert

By: Walter Satterthwait

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

A Flower in the Desert

By: Walter Satterthwait

“Suspenseful plotting . . . another satisfying Joshua Croft adventure” as the Santa Fe PI trails a mother who’s snatched her daughter from her TV star ex (Kirkus Reviews). After a particularly nasty divorce, Melissa, the ex-wife of actor Roy Alonzo, accused the handsome TV star of abusing their daughter. Then she took their child and disappeared. Santa Fe private investigator Joshua Croft has no real desire to get entangled in the sordid lives of Hollywood’s rich and famous. But a Santa Fe underworld kingpin happens to be Alonzo’s uncle and has requested Croft’s help, an offer that’s tough to refuse. The closer Croft gets to the truth about the shocking Alonzo affair, the more urgent finding the missing mother and child becomes—especially after Melissa’s sister is killed. Croft suspects this murder could have something to do with Melissa’s association with the group Sanctuary and its refugees from Central American terror. Or perhaps it’s connected to a clandestine rescue group that protects battered wives and children. Either way, the situation gets bleaker by the hour, with a less-than-trustworthy FBI agent impeding Croft’s investigation and even more disappearances and deaths. Apparently the adversaries in this dark affair mean serious business, and time is running out for the runaways—and perhaps for the private detective who’s on their trail as well.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

259

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1453251278

ISBN 13

9781453251270

Wall of Glass

By: Walter Satterthwait

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Wall of Glass

By: Walter Satterthwait

In the first book of a “promising” Southwestern mystery series, a Santa Fe PI’s search for a stolen necklace leads to drugs, pornography, and murder (The New York Times Book Review). As an associate at Santa Fe’s Mondragon Detective Agency, Joshua Croft has heard a lot of strange proposals. But nothing stranger than when a cowboy comes in and asks him to help fence a stolen $100,000 necklace. Thinking he has a deal with Croft, the cowboy leaves as mysteriously as he arrived. The next day he turns up dead, riddled with bullets, and the insurance company that already settled the claim for the necklace’s wealthy owners wants Croft’s beautiful, wheelchair-bound boss, Rita Mondragon, and her agency to get the missing jewelry back. As Croft starts to dig into the slain cowboy’s seedier, more sinister associates as well as the private lives of a privileged family with enough skeletons in their closets to populate a graveyard, he uncovers a lot more than some stolen jewels: pornography, drugs, Native American grave robbing, and multiple murders. Now he just has to stay alive long enough to put all the pieces together . . .

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

197

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1453251251

ISBN 13

9781453251256

New York Nocturne

The Return of Miss Lizzie

By: Walter Satterthwait

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

New York Nocturne

The Return of Miss Lizzie

By: Walter Satterthwait

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

318

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1504028104

ISBN 13

9781504028103

Lowcountry Hurricanes

Three Centuries of Storms at Sea and Ashore

By: Walter J. Fraser, Jr.

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Lowcountry Hurricanes

Three Centuries of Storms at Sea and Ashore

By: Walter J. Fraser, Jr.

At once sobering and thrilling, this illustrated history recounts how, for the past three hundred years, hurricanes have altered lives and landscapes along the Georgia-South Carolina seaboard. A prime target for the fierce storms that develop in the Atlantic, the region is especially vulnerable because of its shallow, gradually sloping sea floor and low-lying coastline. With an eye on both natural and built environments, Fraser's narrative ranges from the first documented storm in 1686 to recent times in describing how the lowcountry has endured some of the severest effects of wind and water. This chronology of the most notable lowcountry storms is also a useful primer on the basics of hurricane dynamics. Fraser tells how the 800-ton Rising Sun foundered in open water near Charles Town during the hurricane of 1700. About one hundred persons were aboard. All perished. Drawing on eyewitness accounts, he describes the storm surge of an 1804 hurricane that submerged most of Tybee Island and swept over the fort on nearby Cockspur Island, drowning soldiers and civilians. Readers may have their own memories of Hurricanes Andrew, Opal, and Hugo. Although hurricanes frequently lead to significant loss of life, Fraser recounts numerous gripping instances of survival and rescue at sea and ashore. The author smoothly weaves the lowcountry's long social, political, and economic history with firsthand reports and data accumulated by the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Generously illustrated with contemporary and historical photographs, this is a readable and informative resource on one of nature's most awesome forces.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

374

Publisher

University of Georgia Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0820333336

ISBN 13

9780820333335

Cavalcade

By: Walter Satterthwait

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Cavalcade

By: Walter Satterthwait

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

380

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0312339747

ISBN 13

9780312339746

Miss Lizzie

By: Walter Satterthwait

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Miss Lizzie

By: Walter Satterthwait

The notorious Lizzie Borden investigates a brutal axe-murder that’s strangely reminiscent of her own alleged crimes in this “entertaining” historical novel (The New York Times). It has been thirty years since a Massachusetts jury acquitted Lizzie Borden of brutally murdering her father and stepmother. Now, at the start of the 1920s, she’s an aging spinster living a quiet, secluded life by the New England seashore. Young Amanda Burton has heard all the stories, but nothing can dissuade her from spending time with the lonely old woman next door who shows her card tricks and smells of cigars. At age thirteen, Amanda’s been left to her own devices during a rather dull and swelteringly summer-long family vacation, and Miss Lizzie is the perfect distraction. But when Amanda stumbles upon her own despised stepmother’s corpse, the brutal crime seems eerily similar to a certain double axe-slaying in Fall River three decades earlier. Naturally the whole town immediately suspects Lizzie. The local police, though, are open-minded enough to consider Amanda’s brother and father to be viable suspects as well. To help her young friend and clear her own name (again), Lizzie must sharpen her sleuthing skills to find a fiendish killer with an axe to grind.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

295

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1453251243

ISBN 13

9781453251249

Accustomed to the Dark

By: Walter Satterthwait

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Accustomed to the Dark

By: Walter Satterthwait

The “compelling” conclusion of the Southwestern mystery series culminates in a showdown between the Santa Fe PI and the convict who shot the woman he loves (Booklist). Rita Mondragon is lying comatose and near death in a Santa Fe hospital, and her normally even-tempered partner and paramour, private detective Joshua Croft, is on a razor’s edge. This is the second time Rita’s been shot by Ernie Martinez—the first was years ago when he killed her husband and put Rita in a wheelchair—and now the recently escaped convict is on the run with his equally twisted cellmate Luiz Lucero. Despite a massive police manhunt, and warnings from the FBI and the DEA to back off, Croft sets out to capture the killers himself. As the crazed convicts leave a trail of murder and destruction behind them—from New Mexico to Las Vegas to Denver and across Kansas and Texas—one by one, their pursuers drop by the wayside. Suddenly a strange twist of fate has left only one man hunter remaining—Joshua Croft—in a breathtaking kill-or-be-killed climax in the Florida Everglades.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

221

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

145325126X

ISBN 13

9781453251263

The Hanged Man

By: Walter Satterthwait

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Hanged Man

By: Walter Satterthwait

When a gathering of psychics, astrologers, and New Age practitioners turns deadly, a Santa Fe PI must find a killer in this “entertaining adventure” (Publishers Weekly). Thirteen prominent members of Santa Fe’s New Age spiritualism community attended a meeting at the home of a couple of enthusiastic devotees. Only twelve of them survived it. Private investigator Joshua Croft prides himself on his even-handed, eminently rational approach to crime solving. So he feels like a fish out of water surrounded by a motley group of true believers in the wacky and weird. But someone in this bizarre crowd murdered self-styled magic-doer Quentin Bouvier, hanging him from the ceiling rafters with a scarf belonging to Tarot card reader Giacamo Bernardi. And Bernardi’s attorney wants Croft to bring the real killer to justice. Perhaps Bouvier’s slaying had something to do with a very rare and expensive antique Tarot card that the hanged man recently purchased, which is now—unsurprisingly—missing. However, getting down-to-earth answers from people who occupy a different reality won’t be easy. But when more New Agers suddenly depart this mortal plane, Croft needs to up the ante to catch a killer who’s not playing with a full deck.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

223

Publisher

Open Road Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

1453251294

ISBN 13

9781453251294

A Flower in the Desert

A Joshua Croft Mystery

By: Walter Satterthwait

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

A Flower in the Desert

A Joshua Croft Mystery

By: Walter Satterthwait

Looks at a potentially explosive situation, in which genetically modified plants have become part of our daily diet, without consumer awareness or knowledge of potential risks. Asks whether food crops, a vital element of the collective wealth of this planet, should remain at the mercy of private interests.

Average ratings

N/A