The Paul Mcdonald Mystery Series Vol. 1-2: With Bonus Short Story!

All the soft-boiled Bay Area adventures of hardboiled-wannabe Paul Mcdonald-- now in a two-volume box set at a great price!

Vol. 1: TRUE LIFE ADVENTURE

Things were going lousy for ex-reporter Paul Mcdonald: No money, no girl friend, no bright new career as a mystery novelist … and then along came private investigator Jack Birnbaum with an offer: he’d detect, and Paul would write the client reports. It wasn’t much, but it would keep Spot the cat in Kitty Queen tidbits.

But then somebody poisoned Jack in Paul’s own living room. There must have been something someone didn't want him to know in one of those client reports. But what?

Vol. 2: HUCKLEBERRY FIEND

The most priceless American manuscript in existence—the missing holograph of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn-- has unceremoniously dropped into Paul Mcdonald's hands-- now what?

In between much-needed therapy sessions, Paul's neurotic friend Booker the burglar stole it from his dad’s girl friend’s roommate, and now wants sometime-sleuth Paul to find its rightful owner. Because he’s pretty sure the roommate's not it. He’s only too right: Beverly, it turns out, is dead. Murdered for the manuscript, if Paul’s guess is right.

Fans of CASTLE, MURDER SHE WROTE, even ELLERY QUEEN will enjoy this fast-paced and funny take on the mystery-writer-as-detective. As will people who like their male sleuths wry, witty, and a little on the soft-boiled side—fans of Parnell Hall’s Stanley Hastings, say, Tony Dunbar’s Tubby Dubonnet, Gregory Mcdonald’s Fletch (this Mcdonald, it's worth noting, is Paul’s personal hero), and especially Rex Stout’s Archie Goodwin. Huckleberry Fiend will delight fans of mysteries about books-- Lawrence Block’s Bernie Rhodenbarr series, John Dunning's Cliff Janeway books, the Death on Demand books by Carolyn Hart, and Joan Hess's Claire Malloy series. Female sleuths with a sense of humor remind us of him too—for instance, Criminal Minds’ Penelope Garcia and the immortal Amelia Peabody (of whom he’d be terrified if they ever met).