Howard Engel: 17 books

Benny Cooperman was expecting his time in Toronto to be spent watering plants, feeding gerbils and sampling the local sandwich shops, but a house-sitting gig for his brother soon leads to another case for the endearing private detective. A dealer in rare books asks Benny to investigate the theft of...

The remarkable journey of an award-winning writer struck with a rare and devastating affliction that prevented him from reading even his own writing One hot midsummer morning, novelist Howard Engel picked up his newspaper from his front step and discovered he could no longer read it. The letters had...

A grisly tour of hangings, electrocutions, beheadings—and other state-sanctioned deaths that are part of the long history of the death penalty. In Lord High Executioner, award-winning writer Howard Engel traces the traditions of capital punishment from medieval England and early Canada to...

Michael Ward is a journalist newly arrived to the Left Bank. When he falls in with Jason Waddington, an expatriate American writer who introduces him to the cafe scene and his crowd of writers and artists, Ward soon discovers that Jack de Paris is not the only trouble afoot in the City of Light. Rumor...

Thirty real-life accounts of passion gone lethally wrong Celebrated mystery writer Howard Engel traces the history of the crime of passion through France, England, Canada, and the United States in his first nonfiction book. The story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman hanged in England, is explored...

Ontario PI Benny Cooperman is on the case of a suspicious suicide in this “convincingly complex” mystery “with an ironic sense of humor” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Myrna Yates shows up at Benny Cooperman’s office asking him to check up on her husband, the contractor Chester...

“Engel captures the spirit of Doyle’s tone in the Holmes sagas without it being a stilted or pale imitation . . . A lively, engaging page-turner.” —Curled Up With a Good Book Howard Engel is the award-winning writer whose Benny Cooperman mysteries garner rave international reviews—fans...

The first three mysteries in a beloved and acclaimed series featuring “one of the most enjoyable private eyes in crime fiction” (The Toronto Star). Benny Cooperman is a Canadian Jewish detective with flair, kinder and gentler than the average PI, and squeamish about violence. According...

**Has the kidnapper been kidnapped? A mystery in the detective series known for “**full-bodied characters, sharp dialogue, and rich humor” (Booklist). It’s February and Ontario is frozen—along with Benny Cooperman’s private investigation business. That is, until Muriel Falkirk knocks...

**When a rabbi needs help tracking down a thief, it’s time to call on “**one of the most enjoyable private eyes in crime fiction” (The Toronto Star). Saul Tepperman of Ontario’s B’nai Shalom synagogue has known Benny Cooperman since his bar mitzvah. Now that Benny’s grown into a...

A PI is hired by a gangster marked for murder: “Benny Cooperman is . . . a lot of fun to hang out with” (Donald E. Westlake). Benny Cooperman is a very effective detective—though he does get a little squeamish when things turn violent. He is snugly tucked in his bed in quiet Grantham,...

Confront murder, mayhem—and your own mysteries of being. From a corporate giant's kidnapping of a rabbi, to the disappearance of the clarinetist in a klezmer band, to four rabbis' use of their text interpretation skills to help a detective solve a murder that one of them has committed, this...

“Canada’s first and foremost private eye” hunts for a missing woman amid a movie production in this mystery by an Arthur Ellis Award winner (Maclean’s). Niagara Falls is overrun with Hollywood types who are shooting a film. But Benny Cooperman isn’t scouting for talent—he’s scouring...

This tale of skullduggery in the art world is “another winner” from the Arthur Ellis Award–winning author (Publishers Weekly). To say that Canadian private investigator Benny Cooperman is a novice in the art world would be an understatement. Nevertheless, he’s hired by Pambos Kiriakis,...