.png)
"Murder, Mayhem, and Monkey Business."
MATTHIAS JONES SERIES
His father was an investigator who was murdered. Matthias Jones became an athlete and coach, but he and Cocoa Stefani solved his father's murder. Hamilton College on the coast of New Hampshire hired him to coach sports, but getting into murder investigations remains his passion. He knows the cops and the district attorney, Herbert Lane-Hebert Lane who hate his guts. He's best buds with Cocoa, a major underworld character and a good friend of parish priest Father Jim Gallagher. Jones' persistence gains him the upper hand over the cops and the DA - and of course the murderer.
R.I.P. Bill Jones
The beginning of the series. Jones wins the national high school championship and is recruited by Cocoa Stefani to coach at Hamilton College. But there's a glitch. His dad, a veteran investigator is murdered and left in his truck at the river's edge. Jones and Cocoa become friends tracking down Bill Jones's killer. Their efforts are thwarted by Lester Larsen, son of the retiring bumbling coach Lark Larsen as he attempts to prevent Jones from replacing his father as coach.
.jpg)
The Prince William Slasher
Four women are brutally murdered in six weeks by a killer wielding a razor's deadly blade. Matthias Jones, just taking the reins of coaching at Hamilton College, learns tangentially of the Prince William Slasher. He is introduced at a Hamilton College trustees' meeting and catches the eyes of the retired model Pia. Jones and Cocoa are witness to a fifth gruesome murder and Jones begins the pursuit of the killer. Jones must deal with the antics of the irascible Arnie Dewars and his goofy friend Muddy Jacobs. The slasher attempts yet another murder and begins taunting Jones on the phone. Pia and Jones begin dating but Pia has grand designs on the Hamilton College coach. As Jones's basketball team begins winning, the killer threatens him directly with murder.
The Strange Death of Dr. Povitch
Did Father Jim Gallagher murder Dr. Sergi Povitch? The police think so. Povitch dies at his observatory from poison at Gallagher’s dinner table. Now Gallagher is on the run. Matthias Jones tries to exonerate the priest, but he also suspects his star player who confided drug use to Dr. Povitch. A Povitch colleague has stolen vital notes from the doctor's notebook for a book deal. And was Povitch's companion, Elsie McIntire, after his money? Blocking Jones's investigation is a bumbling security cop, Bucky Driscoll. Driscoll clumsily destroys vital evidence and his constant stupidity annoys Jones' temperamental close friend-a sly underworld figure Cocoa Stefani. Then- a second murder-one of Jones's cheerleaders. While at the funeral in her hometown, Jones finds the evidence he needs to confront the murderer.
The Club Max Murder
Club Max, owned by Jones's friend and underworld character Cocoa Stefani, is a cauldron for risky behavior. Jones's star football player is arrested for the murder of a Club Max hooker. Jones jumps into the case, irritated by a Sherlock Holmes buff trying to solve the crime. Mobsters and students are all suspects and it is only in the hair raising final scene where the true killer is revealed.
Murder at Tolby Lake
Brad Davis is a brilliant genetic researcher working for Hamilton Fletcher and Hamilton College. But Davis’s wild life of parties, booze, drugs and sex makes him many enemies. When he is murdered a Hamilton College student Amy Pollard is found with her personally owned handgun, the gun that killed Brad Davis. Just that afternoon Davis bloodied his benefactor, Hamilton Fletcher’s nose. Lurking in the background is Davis’s mob connection to crime boss Albert Fiore in Boston. A Hamilton College professor, Zoey Wilmont is suspiciously surveilling the lake house area. The Fletchers reach out to Matthias Jones to protect the college’s interest and find the murderer. Jones ends up with his nefarious friend Cocoa Stefani in Boston eventually confronts the murderer directly.
The Man in the Glass
An execution style murder on Crosstown Boulevard in Prince, William New Hampshire leads Jones to a legendary criminal and he follows the trail of a missing priest friend of Father Jim Gallagher. Intertwined in the story is the town goofs-Arnie Dewars and Bucky Driscoll and their business venture. What the legendary criminal executes confounds Jones and the police. The crime is solved far away from Prince William and Hamilton, New Hampshire.
Funeral March for the Maestro
In Funeral March for the Maestro, the conductor of the Prince William Symphony is murdered with a single bullet yet two shots were fired-a minute apart. Beloved coach Lark Larsen has tested positive for firing a gun.With the help of wacky locals in Hamilton New Hampshire, Matthias Jones zeroes in on the real murderer-someone who knew the maestro very well
Anthony's Story
What became of Anthony Stefani, who disappeared five years ago? Within the humor of the wacky characters of Hamilton, New Hampshire Matthias Jones begins a murder investigation after a bizarre murder in Hamilton. Events turn serious when Jones tracks the killer to New York City and a violent international gang. The investigation crosses the cold case trail of Anthony Stefani. Jones risks his life in a tense confrontation with the gang. The answer to the Hamilton murder yields the secret of the disappearance of Anthony Stefani.
The Handyman's Secret
A collision of Lark Larsen’s new boat with “the Maintenance Free” in Hamilton Bay leads to the murder of local handyman Webster Howard. Lark hires an intelligence operative, Detective Clyde Hooper whose antics annoy and frustrate Matthias Jones’s investigation of the murder. Cocoa Stefani falls in love with a beautiful but innocent brunette, Janet Bordeaux, but J.B. soon becomes a Jones suspect. Trooper Banastre O’Connell appears to have been romantically involved with the overspending Mabel Howard, Webster’s wife. In the middle of the investigation is Reverend John Paul Bricker and” his church.” From a bar on Cape Cod Jones and Cocoa track the killer, while shadowed by Clyde Hooper and his helper, the ever-bumbling Bucky Driscoll.
Six Feet Under
Was there an unseen murder in Hamilton twenty-five years in the past? Matthias Jones begins to wonder what happened to Professor Harrison Mobley decades ago. Did he leave town when of all his enemies descended on his colonial on the common twenty-five years ago? Or was there foul play? Jones has a side road theory that Mobley may have been murdered. Perhaps in his own house. But it’s more complicated. All of the suspects from twenty-five years ago are alive in Hamilton today, some in prominent positions. And someone does not want Jones uncovering the details of what happened one night at his house so long ago.
Murder at the Applegate
Matthias Jones’s longtime friend Leo Crowley is found dead under a concrete foundation at the Applegate Development in Hamilton, New Hampshire. Bonner Development’s unsavory owner Bobby Bonner becomes an immediate suspect because of his activities around the time of Leo’s murder. The belligerent attitude of Bonner’s construction superintendent Scott Gleason begins confronting Jones and Cocoa Stefani as they delve into the murder. Dennis Cruchek, who lured Leo out to the site, has disappeared and Kim Rose, a tall blonde seemingly is deeply involved in the development. Watching over the development is the pugnacious Red Kroc a Bonner worker on the site who will instantly pick a fight with anyone. As always District Attorney Herbert Lane tries to block Jones's efforts. Jones finds love with his friend Frannie McShane but needs counseling from Father Gallagher when fate takes a turn for the worse.
.jpg)
Deader Than Dead
Hamilton Fletcher leader in the town industry, and patriarch is murdered in his study.His money grubbing daughter was on the Fletcher Estate in the carriage house. A gun toting neighbor lurked in the shadows. The company controller may have wanted more power. And the fired groundskeeper was upset with Hamilton Fletcher. Matthias Jones finds Hamilton dead at his computer with a mystery file called Jersey imports on the screen. After being shot at on numerous occasions, threatened and targeted for murder, Matthias Jones locates the accused. Of course the local yokels impede and help him solve the murder-all with much (lol).
The Life and Times of Charlie Diaper
Mob boss Albert Fiore is under suspicion of fixing races on Channel Z, a nationwide gambling video feed. To clear himself of the charges Fiore plans to implicate Charlie DiPiro, former mob boss now suffering from dementia. Cocoa Stefani was brought up in DiPiro’s organization and has an unyielding loyalty to his boss. In this backdrop a Mustang explodes behind Coach Matthias Jones’s baseball game. As Cocoa disappears Jones follows a lead to find out why the car exploded. Sidetracking the investigation Is boisterous sportswriter Billy Bobcat. In the course of turning up clues, Jones uncovers the truth but also faces Fiore’s wrath.
Johnnie's Back in Town
While bowling in a charity bowling tournament for kids without fathers, Chet McLaughlin, a professor at Hamilton College, is gunned down in the Bowlarama bowling alley. Matthias Jones hears two distinct shots. Why was the wacky desk manager Bum Bumpus and his wife Trixie wearing ear buds during the shooting? The prominent gangster Johnny Stefani, Cocoa’s estranged father, was seen hovering at the bowling alley before the shooting as was the young hoodlum Mark Pereira who left the alley right after Chet McLaughlin was shot. Only Cocoa’s prowess and inside knowledge establishes a professional killing. After credible death threats Jones and his fiancé Frannie McShane are advised by P.J. Fletcher to leave the area for a few days. But Jones and Cocoa only get into deeper trouble as they head to northern New Hampshire. A cataclysmic, shocking ending brings together the major suspects with Jones and Cocoa.