Mark Twain Mysteries

A colorful and historically detailed mystery places the famous author Mark Twain in its center, as the curmudgeonly character finds himself playing an unlikely detective along the Mississippi.

A beautiful city with ugly traditions of corruption and racism. A black man set to hang for a murder he didn't commit. A world-famous author - and detective - who isn't about to let it happen. This is the sequel to Heck's acclaimed debut, Death on the Mississippi.

Twain and his assistant Wentworth Cabot are on a boat cruise to Europe. The company of Twain's friend Rudyard Kipling seems to guarantee smooth sailing. But soon a wealthy young man has disappeared from the ship. Now a murder needs solving, and Twain is on the case.

Mark Twain is in merry old England to see his family. Wentworth Cabot, Twain's assistant, is looking forward to seeing the sights, and hopefully finding some peace and quiet - when not helping his boss with a new lecture series. But peace is the last thing they find when they bump into Slippery Ed, a con man from New Orleans and an acquaintance of Twain's. Ed convinces Twain and his family to attend a seance. The famed author is skeptical of "spooks." But when another attendee is murdered, Twain must discover whether the killer is one of the flesh-and-blood members of the audience - or a specter from the beyond.

A trip to sunny Florence provides some much needed rest and relaxation for Mark Twain's assistant, Wentworth Cabot, until a woman he fancies disappears - along with a Raphael masterpiece.

On a lecture tour, Mark Twain is reunited with Tom Blankenship, his boyhood pal and the model for Huck Finn. When Tom is charged with murder, it's up to Twain to be as good a lawyer as he is a friend.