Charlie Bradshaw is spending his 41st birthday in New York, trying to track down Sam, the son of his great high school love. Sam has gotten himself involved in a big-time drug deal, and everyone—from Sam to the New York cop on the case—wishes Charlie would go back to Saratoga to do his sleuthing. But a combination of stubbornness and savvy—to say nothing of Sam's enticing girlfriend—keeps the small-town cop deep in the Big City mystery. "Murder and mayhem in an unusually inviting climate." (The New York Times)

Dobyns, Stephen

The decapitation of a former jockey hiding out in his house is just the beginning of Charlie Bradshaw's troubles. An old man dies in a fire, murder finds a stable owner, Charlie's Volkswagen is blown to bits. And while tracking down the vicious killer, the ex-cop turned private eye must prove that he has no mob connections. "Charlie Bradshaw makes a most welcome reappearance." (The Washington Post Book World)

After Victor Plotz becomes the victim of a hit-and-run and his camera is stolen by the driver, Charlie Bradshaw finds himself between the police and an armed robbery scheme in his efforts to track Victor's assailant

What's Super Bowl Sunday without a little gambling party in Saratoga Springs? By bedtime, private detective Charlie Bradshaw's a busy man. The bash has been robbed, Charlie hasn't recovered a stolen painting and a grocer lies dead behind his cash register. The names of five heavy gamblers promise to hold the key to the murder...and maybe much more. Charlie's investigation veers toward terror as it twists through a netherworld of unpleasant surprises. "Dobyns is a graceful, assured writer with felicity of word and phrase. His characters spring to life, and he captures the charm of Saratoga Springs, both past and present." (The Washington Post)

The life of Charlie Bradshaw takes a literary turn when the private detective gets embroiled in three cases involving poetry. A colleague's death leads Charlie to a nursing home where a poem in iambic hexameter provides a clue to a series of mysterious deaths. Whoever is robbing rooms at the Bentley Hotel, in Saratoga Springs, leaves poems behind. And at a nearby artists' colony, Charlie poses as a poet to find out who's been harassing a pretentious literary critic."This Bradshaw series is unusually well done. Dobyns is a superb stylist and never is there a false note in his characterizations or dialogue." (The New York Times)

Street-wise P.I. Charlie Bradshaw returns in a new Saratoga racetrack mystery. A man Charlie helped convict 20 years ago has been paroled from prison and is sending Charlie vicious death threats. To add to his problems, his long-time, one-in-a-million woman Janey Burris wants a commitment.

Days after a wealthy horse owner expresses fear that his wife is trying to kill him, the man dies in what appears to be an accident, and private investigator Charlie Bradshaw and his sidekick Victor search for the truth. Reprint.

The ninth mystery set at the famed Saratoga Raceway presents a colorful tale of murder and horseflesh that's sure to satisfy mystery fans and racing enthusiasts alike. When P.I. Charlie Bradshaw's politically incorrect pal Victor Plotz becomes a murder suspect, he and Charlie find themselves caught up in the high drama of the horse auctions as they try to solve the case.

His tenth mystery takes private eye Charlie Bradshaw and his sidekick, Vic Poltz, to Montreal to find a suitcase worth two thousand bucks, an expedition that leads them to a karate kid, a stripper, and a shady operator. Reprint.

The latest installment in Stephen Dobyns' Charlie Bradshaw mysteries, Saratoga Payback follows the latest exploits of Saratoga Springs' most unusual and sardonic detective. Ever since the cops revoked his private investigator's license, Charlie Bradshaw has been adjusting to life as a regular senior citizen. But reading, sitting around the house, and making amateur home repairs is a far cry from his past life as Saratoga Springs' most successful everyman detective. So when Charlie discovers the sprawled corpse of Saratoga Springs' biggest nuisance on his sidewalk, the ex-P.I. is torn. Should he risk asking questions of his own, knowing he could easily be prosecuted for doing P.I. work without a license? Or should he avoid the trouble and spend his twilight years in peace? Well, the case was practically delivered to his doorstep... Saratoga Payback, the latest installment in Stephen Dobyns' critically praised Charlie Bradshaw Mysteries, follows Charlie as he toes the line between concerned private citizen and practiced private eye. As he begins to look into the murder of the town pest, Charlie also finds himself entangled in problem that is purely Saratogian—a mission to rescue an old acquaintance's kidnapped horse. Wry, entertaining, and adroitly written, Saratoga Payback is an immensely satisfying addition to Dobyns' popular mystery series."