AUTHOR OF DEVILS ISLAND AND OTHER MYSTERIES

Before he became a mystery writer and reviewer, Brookins was a freelance photographer, a Public Television program director and producer, a Cable TV administrator, and a counselor and faculty member at Metropolitan State University in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He has reviewed mystery fiction for the Saint Paul Pioneer Press and for Mystery Scene Magazine. His reviews also appear on his own web site, and on Internet review sites, including Books 'n' Bytes and Mystery Morgue. Brookins is an avid recreational sailor. With his wife and friends he has sailed in many locations across the world. He is a member of Sisters in Crime, Private Eye Writers of America, MWA and EPIC. He can frequently be found touring bookstores and libraries with his companions-in-crime, The Minnesota Crime Wave.

Brookins writes three series: a sailing adventure series featuring Michael Tanner and Mary Whitney, the Sean Sean private investigator series and has introduced a new protagonist, Jack Marston, a mid-level administrator at an urban college. His short work appears in anthologies Silence of the Loons, Resort to Murder, and Heat of the Moment.

He lives in Roseville, Minnesota, with his wife Jean, a retired publisher and editor.

AVAILABLE NOW: DEVILS ISLAND

Lake Superior has called Mary Whitney once more to its shores. Largest of the Great Lakes, Superior is home to many legends and Mary wants to explore some of them.

She flies east alone to become acquainted with her chartered sailboat in Bayfield, Wisconsin. Her intent is for some relaxing solo sailing and a few day communing with the lake before her husband, Michael Tanner, joins her. She will visit most of the Apostle Islands at her whim and as weather allows. The island that draws her highest interest is the one shrouded in the greatest mystery.

Aptly named, Devils Island is isolated and lacks a protected anchorage. No one lives on the island and even National Park employees rarely visit. Due to its geologic foundation, unceasing action of the water has formed great caves that emit sonorous moans and booming sounds when the waves and wind are just right.

Neither Mary nor her husband are aware that Mary’s ex-husband, Edwin Tobias, a wealthy hedge fund operator and corporate raider, has been tracking her movements and is now searching the lake, drawing ever tighter his dangerous net. It is there, off the rocky foggy coast of Devils Island, that Mary meets the ultimate challenge of her life.

She is captured by a powerful and deranged man who plans her ultimate death. With no hope of outside rescue, Mary faces a situation that requires every mental ability she possesses, and all her skill and physical resources, to save her life and protect her boat. Mary is tested to the extreme to retain hope and to survive this violent confrontation with her ex-husband. It's a contest in which only one will survive.

AVAILABLE NOW: THE CASE OF THE DECEIVING DON

"The classic detective story is alive and kicking in Carl Brookins' The Case of the Deceiving Don... A fun and satisfying romp through the suburban underbelly of the Twin Cities."
— Pete Hautman, author of The Prop

When Private Investigator Sean Sean arrives at his quiet suburban home near Minneapolis, Minnesota, on a summer afternoon and finds a blown up wheelchair, a body and several squad cars scattered across the street, he knows something's gotten out of hand. He'd been planning to put his red Keds up on a footstool and have a cool beer after a boring day on a surveillance gig. But it isn't long before he learns that not every inhabitant of a nearby retirement home sits quietly all day playing dominoes in the game room. From wheelchair destruction derbies to a mysterious sniper out there with a rifle trying to end the short detective's life before its normal time, Sean's usual routine as a cool P.I. rapidly spins out of control. And then there's the mysterious watchers in the ice-blue, late-model Audi. Although he hates riding horses, Sean sometimes sees himself as a knight-errant on a white charger, so off he goes to follow twisted paths through conspiracy and revenge, skirting Eastern mobs and ducking Midwestern gunners. It's a funny, fun, slick mystery for fans of private eye fiction.

© 2005-10 by Carl Brookins.
Permission is hereby granted for reproduction of any material contained in this web site for purposes of publicity and promotion related to the sale of our books and/or appearances by Carl Brookins.
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