Part of Series
Benny Cooperman is slowly going crazy. It's February in Grantham, Ontario, Canada, and he has nothing better to do than watch the frost creeping in under his door. And think about his family and friends enjoying the warmer life in Florida. Nothing that is, until blue-eyed, long-legged Muriel Falkirk enters his private investigator's office because her boyfriend, the notorious Johnny Rosa, has gone missing. It's been several years since Johnny pulled off a sensational kidnapping. He had served his time in Kingston Pen and been released. But now he's vanished. Skipped parole? Murdered? Or what? Muriel wants to know where he is. A lot of other people do too, most of them interested in the un-recovered half-million-dollar ransom. Benny takes Muriel's case and joins "The Ransom Game" too. In this witty and intriguing thriller, he discovers that nobody plays by the rules.
Author
Howard Engel was a pioneering, award-winning Canadian mystery and non-fiction author. He is famous for his Benny Cooperman private-eye series, set in the Niagara Region of Ontario. He and Eric Wright are two of the authors responsible for founding Crime Writers Of Canada. He had twins Charlotte and William with authoress, Marian Engel. He has a son, Jacob, with his late wife, authoress Janet Hamilton: with whom he co-wrote "Murder In Space". A stroke in 2001 famously caused "alexia sine agraphia". It was a disease that hampered Howard's ability to comprehend written words, even though he could continue to write! He retired in Toronto, where he continued to inspire and mentor future authors and writers of all kinds. Maureen Jennings, creator of the Murdoch novels and still-running television series, is among them. Unfortunately, he died of pneumonia that arose after a stroke. True animal-lovers: Howard's beloved living cat, Kali, is included by their family in his obituary.
