Parnell Hall: 18 books

Complications arise when Stanley Hastings handles a blackmail payment involving pornographic pictures. Not only does he fail to stop the blackmailer, but everyone he talks to dies.   "Every page quivers with comic frustration and the result is an absolute joy." —Kirkus (starred)   "The...

Stanley Hastings, bodyguard? Come on, he doesn't even carry a gun. But a best-selling suspense writer's wife who is getting threatening phone calls hires Stanley to make them stop. Bad move. The fact the calls continue is the least of her worries.   "Halls deadpan style of satire makes mincemeat...

The good news is Stanley Hastings got a screenplay produced. The bad news is it's a karate movie with four hot babes, a nerdy twerp superstar is rewriting the script, and someone is bumping off the movie crew.   Mr. Hall scores some good laughs with his sendups of obsessive movie folk and their...

When negligence lawyer Richard Rosenberg defends a man on trial for murder, he hires Stanley Hastings to investigate The reluctant PI takes the stand, and nearly gets found in contempt of court.   "Hilarious … Mr. Hall delights in applying the classic style of high comedy to base genre material,...

Stanley Hastings client is lying to him. But that's a mere annoyance. The crooked cop framing him for three murders is a problem. “What Mr. Hall does to the private-eye formula is very funny, but it is not frivolous. His puzzles, for all their manic nonsense, are fiendish constructions...

Stanley comes to the aid of a soccer mom who's been tricked into working for an escort service, and finds himself engulfed in a world of prostitution, pornography, blackmail, and murder.   "Hair-raising and hilarious." —Publishers Weekly   "A gem of a novel...loaded with warmth, wit, and...

Stanley takes on the case of Joe Balfourwho did time for killing a man in a barroom brawl and is now being blackmailedand winds up breaking and entering, contaminating crime scenes, concealing evidence (or else planting it), framing two innocent men for two different homicides, aiding an extortionist,...

What's this? Stanley Hastings playing the lead in George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man on two days notice? What could possibly go wrong? Well, a backstage murder during dress rehearsal, for starters.   "A real romp. Hilarious. Wins our vote for Best Performance by an Actor on the Verge of a...

1988 Edgar Award Best First Mystery Nominee 1988 Shamus Award Best First Mystery Nominee   Stanley Hastings, the world's most unlikely private eye, a struggling actor/writer trying to support his wife and kid in New York City, who chases ambulances for a negligence lawyer and carries a camera...

Sexy young Sheila Benton loses a multi-million dollar trust if she's involved in any scandal, so it probably would have been wiser not to do drugs, run around with a married man, and find a dead blackmailer on her kitchen floor. Defending her from a murder charge is a tough first case for attorney...

What young attorney wouldnt be delighted to get a 10,000 cash retainer in the mail? Steve Winslow might have been if he knew who sent it. As it is, it gets him arrested for murder, grilled by the cops, and hauled before the grand jury. And he still doesnt know who his client is.   "The trial...

When Steve Winslow helps a young secretary bring a wrongful termination suit against her former employer, its not a particularly interesting case, except for the fact she was hired to type in the nude. That and the fact she doesnt stick around to pick up her settlement check, and turns out to have...

Shanghaied into jury duty and placed on a hopelessly boring civil case, Stanley Hastings swings into action when a juror is murdered, and engineers a most unusual courtroom climax. An amusing inside look at the jury selection system and a must for any prospective juror.   "This unlikely private...

When a homeless mans greedy relatives get him committed, Steve has to prove a multimillionaire who sold his mansion and went to live in the subway is sane. Then he has to prove who killed him.   "Highly entertaining courtroom drama." —Publishers Weekly   "...fine detective work and brilliance...