Rep & Melissa Pennyworth
2 primary works • 4 total works
Book 2
Intellectual property attorneys, romance publishers, and librarians - the very last people you'd expect to be mixed up in murder! Add a pinch of authentic Civil War re - enactors and a sparkling tour of Kansas City, and voila, a classic yet up - to - the - minute crime. Rep and Melissa Pennyworth head west from Indiana to a re - enactment of a Civil War battle in Kansas City, Missouri. Rep is really in quest of a cutting - edge copyright case connected with romance publishing house Jackrabbit Press. He finds a corpse instead. Linda Damon, Melissa's best girlhood friend, worked for the victim, an editor (and womanizer) before his death. Linda's husband, librarian Peter, an enthusiastic Civil War hobbyist, had motive (it must be said that on one recent occasion Linda became a bit too involved in her job), means (a Civil War saber that upon examination proves to be drenched in the victim's blood), and opportunity (a publishing party). Logically, Rep's knowledge of trademark and copyright law, Melissa's Ph.D. in Literature, and the passionate enthusiasm for all things English embraced by Peter's boss at the KC library, Diane Klimchock, should be no help in what is clearly a case for the police.
However, when Rep and Melissa are involved in crime, logic is seldom a reliable guide, as we saw in their earlier investigation, Screenscam. While Unforced Error is great good fun as a mystery, as forecast in its witty (and startling) opening scene, it reminds us about the relevance of language, of words, to everything we do.
However, when Rep and Melissa are involved in crime, logic is seldom a reliable guide, as we saw in their earlier investigation, Screenscam. While Unforced Error is great good fun as a mystery, as forecast in its witty (and startling) opening scene, it reminds us about the relevance of language, of words, to everything we do.
Book 4
Service Dress Blues: A Rep and Melissa Pennyworth Mystery
by Michael Bowen
Published 4 September 2009
Rep Pennyworth faces the client from hell. She is Charlotte Buchanan, author of And Done to Others' Harm, a mystery of no particular merit. Charlotte contends the 1997 novel is the basis for the 1999 film Contemplation of Death. She wants to sue. Rep would blow her off, but Charlotte is the steely daughter of the CEO heading the firm's major corporate client, Tavistock, Ltd. Charlotte is resolute in demanding recognition. Rep digs in, aided by his literature-addicted wife Melissa, and files suit. By return mail comes a death threat, a grisly (and gristly) version of Hold Your Tongue. Research shows the film's director to be Aaron Eastman, Hollywood legend, whose Red Guard should have been a box office and critical smash but fell oddly short. Eastman contends the Oscar balloting was sabotaged. Now he's on the comeback trail and anxious not to derail. He and Rep talk and, bit by bit, the outline of a bizarre scheme to destroy the credibility of Red Guard - and Eastman - emerges. Hoosiers Rep and Melissa aren't prepared for the larger licenses granted to political powerhouses, but they're quick on the uptake and soon armed...