Thomas Martindale, a journalism professor, is enjoying the first day of his summer vacation on the Oregon coast. He has brought with him the active curiosity and investigative abilities that often get him into situations most people would ignore. When he is invited to brunch at the home of an old friend, she confides that someone may be trying to kill her. The next night, that fear is realized when Tom finds her body at a nearby lighthouse. Tom immediately sets out to find her killer, using clues from a manuscript his friend gave him for review. Have the incidents during World War II, described in the manuscript, caused her death? Did they reveal secrets about someone?

Murder At Yaquina Head

Literature & Fiction

Ron Lovell

Contemporary

Sunstone Press

It is 1987 and college professor Thomas Martindale is teaching a summer writing seminar at the university's marine center on the rugged Oregon coast. A marine biologist dies under bizarre circumstances and his assistant, Tom's former lover, is arrested for his murder. The death occurs during a conference of the International Whaling Commission at the center. In Martindale's mind, there are more likely suspects than his friend: the Japanese fisheries minister, an Eskimo whaling commissioner, and several radical environmentalists. Soon Tom's investigation uncovers the murdered man's involvement in a graduate student's drowning at sea and his collaboration with the Japanese to alter whale population statistics. It also puts him in danger from unknown pursuers who keep following him in his car. At the same time, a large Gray whale has beached herself near his house, adding yet another twist to this perplexing mystery. RON LOVELL had a career as a magazine writer in New York, Houston, Denver, and Los Angeles before joining the journalism staff at Oregon State University. The author of 13 textbooks, he writes full-time in Gleneden Beach, Oregon. His first novel in the Thomas Martindale mystery series, MURDER AT YAQUINA HEAD, was also published by Sunstone Press.

Dead Whales Tell No Tales (Thomas Martindale Mysteries)

The high stakes game of university recruiting and a scandal involving black athletes form the centerpiece of this mystery novel. College professor and amateur sleuth Thomas Martindale is acting as the liaison between the university and a video production company to prepare a series of TV ads. When one of his students is killed, he hunts for her killer. In the process he uncovers the scandal and encounters the wife of a coach who will stop at nothing to keep her exploits secret.

Lights, Camera. Murder! (Thomas Martindale Mystery)

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

Penman Productions

Because of his involvement in breaking up a drug gang, Oregon attorney Lorenzo Madrid has become a marked man. The surviving members of that gang, led by Esteban Perez, want revenge. In fact, they may be trying to kill him. The experience of being close to death has taken its toll on him psychologically. He also needs a break from his law practice where he specializes in helping migrants deal with the harshness of their lives. An invitation to teach an immigration law course at UCLA provides the perfect escape. He moves to Los Angeles and settles into a pleasant new life.
 Unfortunately, the ruthless bosses of the cartel track him down. The principal cartel leader, Pantera, is evil incarnate- ruthless, heartless, and more than a bit insane. He pushes Perez aside and takes over, intimidating everyone with his harsh manner and the tattoo of a panther that creeps out of his collar and up onto his face. After Lorenzo witnesses a shooting, where the bullet might have been meant for him, he is lured to an abandoned warehouse where Pantera reveals a secret from Lorenzo's past that has haunted them both for years.

Danger in Unlikely Places (Lorenzo Madrid Mystery) (Lorenzo Madrid Mystery Series)

A semester of teaching immigration law at the UCLA Law School has given Oregon attorney Lorenzo Madrid the change of scene he desperately needed. Gone were the PTSD symptoms brought on by a number of run-ins with members of a drug gang. Gone were the night sweats and an inability to concentrate. A chance encounter with a somewhat sleazy Hollywood producer provides a temporary job as his teaching stint winds down.
What starts as a simple review of actor contracts turns into much more. Before long, he is handling all aspects of production of a low budget movie to be filmed in Oregon. The location is an abandoned sanitarium on the Oregon Coast where he has to deal with a temperamental movie queen--called by her fans "The Queen of the Bs"--her drunken husband--a stuntman, strange incidents on the set--and murder. In the middle of this turmoil, one of his former gang tormentors asks for his help. He says he will talk only to Lorenzo. Should he try to get this man into the Witness Protection, despite the risks? Or, should he cast aside all doubts, because of the valuable information he is offering the government? A dilemma for Lorenzo and a truly dangerous assignment.

A Dangerous Assignment (Lorenzo Madrid Mystery) (Lorenzo Madrid Mystery Series)

As he is setting up a law practice in a small town Oregon, Lorenzo Madrid is faced with two vexing cases. In one, he must get a young politician out of a mental clinic where his unscrupulous stepmother had him committed so she can gain control of his family's timber company. In the other, an old flame of Lorenzo's good friend Tom Martindale asks for help in adopting an Ecuadorian orphan. The problem is, she has already taken him to the U.S. When she returns to that country, she is imprisoned. In the meantime, Lorenzo must fend off unknown assailants. Were they hired by the stepmother or are they members of a drug gang he helped shut down several years before? Reluctant at first to care for Tito, the orphan, Lorenzo grows to love the little boy. As in past Lovell mysteries, the Pacific Ocean brings the characters together in a dangerous showdown by the sea.

Danger by the Sea (Lorenzo Madrid Mystery)

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