When Professor Simon Shaw begins investigating the murder of a woman who turns out to be the long missing heiress to the Bloodsworth estate, he finds himself trying to find answers to a case that is more than seventy years old and that someone wants to keep unsolved

Simon Said (Professor Simon Shaw)

Literature & Fiction

Shaber, Sarah R.

United States

st.martins press

University of North Carolina History Professor Simon Shaw doesn't spend all of his time in the classroom or grading term papers. In fact, he has been making headlines for his role in investigating murders that occurred over the last century. Various newspapers and magazines have even dubbed him a "forensic historian." Simon is just starting to warm up to this title when another mystery presents itself. A forest ranger has discovered the remains of a young woman below the Blue Ridge Parkway in Boone, North Carolina. It's the corpse of Eva Potter, who had disappeared in 1958. A man she was dating, Roy Freedman, confessed to her murder. Now Freedman, serving a life term, claims his confession was false and wants Simon's help in dicovering the real killer. Although Simon can't decide whether or not the man really is innocent, he reluctantly agrees. His inquiries take him to Boone, the mountain town where he grew up and where many of his relatives still live. Even if nothing comes of the trip, Simon sees it as opportunity to get away from the unrelenting heat of Raleigh and his current quarrel with his girlfriend Julia; Simon, deep in his research, had forgotten their date and left her stranded on his front steps. It will also give him the chance to catch up with his aunts and uncles and cousins. An old map of Watauga County leads Simon to believe that the key to the solution of Eva's murder is hidden near the spot where she was killed. When a man who seemed to have some long-hidden information about the woman's disappearance is killed, Simon realizes that there is someone in Boone who will stop at nothing to keep him from learning the truth.

The Fugitive King: A Professor Simon Shaw Mystery

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Mystery

Minotaur Books

Although there is a murder in Shaber's Bug Funeral, the bugs themselves aren't the victims. In the engaging series launched by Shaber's Malice-winning first novel, Simon Said, the author's amateur sleuth is a professor of history, particularly that of a relatively recent period. In each of the stories, Shaber has set her pleasant, somewhat bumbling and extremely likeable detective figuratively and often literally digging into a happening that could reveal its long-ago tale to him. But even Simon finds is very reluctant to be involved in the current cry for help from a woman sent to him by a professor friend - a man whose judgment has always seemed before to be excellent. The woman, who amazes Simon by turning out to be intelligent, sophisticated and very attractive woman indeed, confesses that she believes she has murdered an infant in a past life. Although Simon is as skeptical and even scornful as any decent historian should be, the woman's nature herself convinces him to help her. With unexpected finds, and the story makes its way through a path of surprises to a most surprising - and thoroughly believable finish. It's a delightful and challenging game that Ms. Shaber has invited her readers to join; and they'll love it.

The Bug Funeral (Simon Shaw Mysteries, No. 4)

Professor Simon Shaw, Pulitzer Prize winner and sometime sleuth, encounters his oldest corpse yet: Uwharrie Man, who died fourteen thousand years ago on the banks of Badin Lake in North Carolina. But Uwharrie Man isn't the murder victim in Simon's latest case. That victim is Simon's closest friend, archaeologist David Morgan. Simon is convinced that David died because he came between factions struggling for control of Uwharrie Man's bones---the Lumbee Indian Nation, who want to rebury the skeleton, and the archaeologists, who want to study and display it. Tension escalates as the Lumbee insist that Uwharrie Man is Native American, while the archaeologists suspect he was Caucasian and push for the opportunity to investigate further. Simon's colleague in detection, police sergeant Otis Gates, disagrees with Simon's theory about David's death, straining their friendship to its limits and leaving Simon to hunt for the killer alone. Adding to Simon's burdens, he has been chosen to be the executor of David's will and must deal with Morgan's difficult sister, who is Gates's prime suspect. Throughout, Simon single-mindedly pursues his friend's killer, whose identity shocks everyone, Simon most of all. Shell Game is Shaber's best entry yet in a solid and always delightful academic cozy series.

Shell Game: A Professor Simon Shaw Mystery

Contemporary

Snipe Hunt

The Discovery of an old corpse dredges up the past for a small town with a lot to hide...Professor Simon Shaw wants nothing more than to spend a peaceful Thanksgiving with friends, staying in Pearlie Beach, a small town on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. But even has the turkey roasts, he finds himself embroiled in a fifty-year-old mystery of strange disappearances, suspicious deaths, and treasures lost and found.The holiday disruption begins with the body of a local man is dredged from the waters of Pearlie Beach. In his hand, several rare Confederate coins; in his decaying ribs, the sharp blade of a knife. Soon Simon, aided by Julia McGloughlin, a mesmerizing police attorney, discovers that secrets in this small town run as deep as the waterways that surround it.Simon knows that finding another cache of coins is about as likely as getting the guarded residents of Pearlie Beach to talk. But he also knows that if he doesn't continue to investigate, a decades-old murder will remain unsolved--and another may be close at hand...

Genre Fiction

The Fugitive King by Sarah R. Shaber released on Feb 23, 2004 is available now for purchase.

The Fugitive King (Wwl Mystery, 485)

Romance

WWL Mystery

Young widow Louise Pearlie seizes a chance to escape the typewriters and files of the Office of Strategic Services, the US’s World War II spy agency, when she’s asked to investigate a puzzling postcard referred to OSS by the US Censor. She and a colleague, Collins, head off to St. Leonard, Maryland, to talk to the postcard’s recipient, one Leroy Martin. But what seemed like a straightforward mission to Louise soon becomes complicated. Leroy and his wife, Anne, refuse to talk, but as Louise and Gray investigate, it soon becomes clear that Leroy is mixed up in something illegal. But what? Louise is determined to find out the truth, whatever the cost . . .

Louise's Dilemma (A Louise Pearlie Mystery, 3)

Severn House

1940s, Washington DC. Government girl Louise is blackmailed into investigating the suspicious death of a missing co-worker, with sinister consequences 1940s, Washington DC. Government Girl Louise Pearlie is asked to review the file usage of a missing analyst from the Office of Strategic Services – the US’s wartime intelligence agency – only to learn he’d drowned in the Tidal Basin days before. OSS confirm it was an accident, and Louise is sent back to her regular job in the file rooms.Her time spent investigating Paul Hughes at least has one positive outcome, though: Louise meets a young woman in the OSS Reading Room, who asks her to join her ‘salon’, where she is encouraged to talk about controversial issues like racial segregation and equal pay for women. Socializing with the women helps her cope with her beau Joe Prager's transfer to New York City.
 But Louise’s life soon takes a dangerous and sinister turn, and she can’t help but worry if she’ll wind up floating in the Tidal Basin herself . . .

Louise's Blunder (A Louise Pearlie Mystery, 4)

1940s, Washington DC. Government girl Louise gets her big chance, when she is tasked with recruiting German POWs for a secret mission inside Nazi Germany Government girl Louise Pearlie has a new job inside the OSS – the Office of Strategic Services: recruiting German prisoners-of-war for a secret mission inside Nazi Germany. It’s a big chance for her, and Louise hopes she can finally escape her filing and typing duties. With the job comes two new colleagues: Alice Osborne, a propaganda expert, and Merle Ellison, a forger from Texas who just happens to speak fluent German. But when the three arrive at Fort Meade camp, to interview the first German POWs to arrive there, their mission is beset by complications. Only one of the prisoners speaks English, the army officer in charge of the camp is an alcoholic and two prisoners disappeared on the ship bringing the Germans to the states. Were their deaths suicide? Officially, yes. But Louise can’t help but have her doubts . . .

Louise's Chance (A Louise Pearlie Mystery, 5)

“Shaber does a fine job portraying the plight of alien residents in wartime Washington, besides conveying the hectic atmosphere of a city whose resources are stretched to the limit by an influx of new workers” Publishers Weekly Starred Review When a body is discovered in a Washington bar, Government girl Louise Pearlie is forced into a role of lies and deception. On a bitterly cold night in December 1943, Government girl Louise Pearlie and her friend Joe Prager are enjoying a quiet drink in the Baron Steuben Inn when a bloodstained body is discovered behind the bar. Although the victim had been a regular customer, no one seems to know anything about him. When it turns out there is a link to Louise’s top-secret work at the OSS, she is ordered to find out as much as possible about the murder while keeping the connection secret from those involved, including the investigating police detective. Although Louise has been trained to keep secrets, the constant deception is taking its toll – especially when she discovers that she’s not the only customer at the Steuben that night with something to hide. Will Louise’s silence result in an innocent man being arrested for murder?

Louise's Lies (A Louise Pearlie Mystery, 6)

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