Murder At The Margin

Professor and amateur sleuth Henry Spearman uses economics to try to solve a murder while on a Caribbean vacation Cinnamon Bay seems like the ideal Caribbean getaway. But for Harvard economist and amateur detective Henry Spearman it offers an unexpected and decidedly different diversion: murder. With the police at a loss, Spearman investigates on his own, following a rather different set of laws—those of economics. Theorizing and hypothesizing, Spearman sets himself on the killer’s trail as it winds from the perfect beaches and manicured lawns of a resort to the bustling old port of Charlotte Amalie to the perilous hiking trails of a dense forest. Can Spearman crack the case using economics—and before it’s too late?

Professor and amateur sleuth Henry Spearman uses economics to try to solve a murder while on a Caribbean vacation Cinnamon Bay seems like the ideal Caribbean getaway. But for Harvard economist and amateur detective Henry Spearman it offers an unexpected and decidedly different diversion: murder. With the police at a loss, Spearman investigates on his own, following a rather different set of laws—those of economics. Theorizing and hypothesizing, Spearman sets himself on the killer’s trail as it winds from the perfect beaches and manicured lawns of a resort to the bustling old port of Charlotte Amalie to the perilous hiking trails of a dense forest. Can Spearman crack the case using economics—and before it’s too late?

In the riveting new mystery from the USA Today bestselling author, a murder and a missing first edition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses send rare bookstore owner Addie Greyborne on an investigation to challenge even the most distinguished of bibliophiles… Addie leaves her Greyborne Harbor bookstore, Beyond the Page Books and Curios, in the capable hands of her assistant while she travels to the neighboring town of Pen Hollow to attend a book sale at a library that is closing due to lack of funding. But the real find is a bookmobile bus, which she’s excited to refit as a traveling bookstore to hit all the summer festivals. The bookmobile also holds a surprising treasure: several classic first editions and an early edition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses. But before the bookmobile can be delivered to Addie, a fatal car crash occurs. When an autopsy reveals poison in the victim’s system and the first editions go missing, it’s up to Addie to determine what would drive someone to murder. If she’s not careful, however, she may be the next one to be dead on arrival . . . “Plenty of specialized knowledge, local color, and romance.”— Kirkus

The plot thickens for American gothic writer Penelope Parish when a murder near her quaint British bookshop reveals a novel's worth of killer characters. Penelope Parish has hit a streak of bad luck, including a severe case of writer's block that is threatening her sophomore book. Hoping a writer in residence position at The Open Book bookstore in Upper Chumley-on-Stoke, England, will shake the cobwebs loose, Pen, as she's affectionately known, packs her typewriter and heads across the pond. Unfortunately, life in Chumley is far from quiet and when the chairwoman of the local Worthington Fest is found dead, fingers are pointed at Charlotte Davenport, an American romance novelist and the future Duchess of Worthington. Charlotte turns to the one person who might be her ally for help: fellow American Pen. Teaming up with bookstore owner Mabel Morris and her new friend Figgy, Pen sets out to learn the truth and find the tricks that will help her finish her novel.

Addie Greyborne loved working with rare books at the Boston Public Library—she even got to play detective, tracking down clues about mysterious old volumes. But she didn’t expect her sleuthing skills to come in so handy in a little seaside town . . . Addie left some painful memories behind in the big city, including the unsolved murder of her fiancé and her father’s fatal car accident. After an unexpected inheritance from a great aunt, she’s moved to a small New England town founded by her ancestors back in colonial times—and living in spacious Greyborne Manor, on a hilltop overlooking the harbor. Best of all, her aunt also left her countless first editions and other treasures—providing an inventory to start her own store. But there’s trouble from day one, and not just from the grumpy woman who runs the bakery next door. A car nearly runs Addie down. Someone steals a copy of Alice in Wonderland. Then, Addie’s friend Serena, who owns a nearby tea shop, is arrested—for killing another local merchant. The police seem pretty sure they’ve got the story in hand, but Addie’s not going to let them close the book on this case without a fight . . .

At Harvard, tenure decisions are a matter of life -- or death. For Dennis Gossen, the economics department whiz kid currently being considered for tenure, it's definitely death. When he's turned down by the high-and-mighty Promotion and Tenure Committee, Gossen commits suicide. A Question of Cost Accounting... Or does he? It's hard to imagine why a young man with a brilliant scholarly future -- at Harvard or not -- would come up with an equation in which the opportunity cost of killing himself (a high price, considering his potential earnings) would be outweighed by the emotional cost of failing to receive tenure. ... Or Utility? Then two members of the P and T Committee are murdered, and it becomes clear to Professor Henry Spearman of the Economics Department that the killer must be on the committee. But which of his illustrious colleagues would have significantly increased his -- or her -- utility (i.e., happiness) by murdering a faculty member or two? Or three?

Economics professor and amateur detective Henry Spearman tackles a mystery where the price of art is murder In The Mystery of the Invisible Hand, Henry Spearman, an economics professor with a knack for solving crimes, is pulled into a case that mixes campus intrigue, stolen art, and murder. Arriving at San Antonio’s Monte Vista University to teach a course on art and economics, he is confronted with a puzzling art theft and the suspicious suicide of the school’s artist-in-residence. From Texas to New York, Spearman traces the connections between economics and the art world, finding his clues in monopolies, auction theory, and Adam Smith. How is a company’s capital like an art museum’s collection? What does the market say about art’s authenticity versus its availability? What is the mysterious “death effect”—and does it lie at the heart of the case? Spearman must rely on his savviest economic thinking to answer these questions—and pin down a killer.