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The Adventures of Sure Luck Holmes now available in print and e-book editions.
The Adventures of Sure Luck Holmes
Now available.
Fifth-grader Sherman Holmes and his sidekick Johanna Watson solve mysteries surrounding the Baker Street Elementary School in Londonberry, California. Nicknamed Sure Luck, Sherman always cracks the case, but invariably for the wrong reason that only Johanna catches, particularly when it involves Sherman’s nemesis, the school bully Jim Moriarty. Johanna also assists Sure Luck as he prepares for his second level private detective’s exam, involving both a written section and a surprise practical test that will require all of Sure Luck’s skill.
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Murder in the Museo Kircheriano
Now available.
Jesuit priest Athanasius Kircher created the world’s most amazing museum in the mid seventeenth century Vatican. He was brilliant and reputed to be the last man to know everything. He also bordered on being a con man. When Queen Christina abdicates her throne in Sweden, converts to Catholicism and visits Kircher’s museum, she and Kircher discover a dead body. They team up to solve the mystery of the murdered man, while encountering a secret nephews circle.
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A Mystery Yarn
Now available.
In the third book in the Omnipodge trilogy, Pru Pendergast becomes entangled in more than yarn when her obnoxious landlord shows up dead in her driftwood creations shop. Pru must escape attacks on her own life and the threat of being arrested while trying to solve the crime and catch the eye of her new sort of boyfriend.
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Last Gasp Motel
Now available.
In the second book in the Omnipodge trilogy, retired maintenance man Frank Sinatra finds Darrell Willows’s body in the swimming pool of the Last Gasp Motel in Omnipodge, California, and tries to figure out what happened. The aging residents are a quirky lot including kleptomaniac Carolyn Bryant; “Accident” Al Utley, who causes traffic accidents and then collects money from the other drivers; dog-poop vigilante Pat Pope known as “Mr. Poop”; potassium-obsessed, banana-chomping Banny Zamora; authority-avoiding Varenka; and conspiracy-theory nut Ethel Ogden. The eccentric tenants must work together to solve the case before the city replaces their home with a shopping mall—the race is on to find the killer and save the Last Gasp Motel!
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Old Detectives Home
Now available.
Imagine a retirement home populated with residents such as an aging Hercule Poirot and a dementia-suffering Sherlock Holmes and run by staff including Art Doyle, Dash Hammett and Dot Sayers. In this light-hearted spoof of the mystery genre, every character is either a namesake of a person from the mystery writing world or a character from a mystery novel. On anything but a dark and stormy night, a dead body is found. The staff managers find themselves unable to control the unruly old detectives. Mix in clues and red herrings galore as the cast of suspects investigate each other. Hold on to your rockers as the top detectives of all time reunite at Old Detectives Home to solve their most difficult whodunit—but first without killing each other. Read more...
Coronavirus Daze
Now available.
In Coronavirus Daze, Tad, a middle school student in Southern California, must deal with the boredom of being stuck at home with his parents during the Coronavirus pandemic and has a life transforming experience when he makes an unexpected discovery. Readers may shed a tear and will certainly have some chuckles as Tad recounts his adventures in a time of chaos and uncertainty. Read more...
The Front Wing
Now available.
In The Front Wing, a Harold and Bella paranormal geezer-lit mystery, people on a waiting list to get into the Front Wing of a retirement community have accidents and are killed. Harold McCaffrey marshals the special abilities of his unusual friends including aging witches, vampires, werewolves and shape-shifters to solve the mystery. Read more...
Paradise Court
Now available.
In Paradise Court, while vacationing on Maui with his wife, Mark Yeager makes two discoveries: he finds a pickleball court and a dead body. Things go downhill as he becomes a suspect in a murder investigation, his wife is kidnapped and he gets crosswise with a local crime boss. He must sort through a cast of suspects to find the killer, rescue his wife and stay alive. Read more...
Unstuff Your Stuff
Now available.
In Unstuff Your Stuff, 68-year-old Millicent Hargrove must deal with the murder of her husband as she begins her new life as a widow and professional organizer. She escapes attempts on her own life and figures out the mystery of the cryptic messages left by her husband. She discovers how to organize people’s stuff while sorting through the clutter from the secret life her husband led. Read more...
Death of a Scam Artist
Now available.
In Death of a Scam Artist, a financial hatchet man who dislikes old people, accepts the job of turning around a failing retirement home and undergoes a life-transforming experience in the world of geezers and geezerettes. He must deal with a suspicious death, a scam, a hit man, an unexpected romance and retired magician Jerry Rhine and his five whacky sidekicks known as the Jerry-atrics. He faces the most important decision of his life when he uncovers the secret behind an unusual murder. Read more ...
The Tesla Legacy, An International Thriller
Now available.
Picture a retired mathematics professor and conspiracy nut with a butt-kicking, surrogate-daughter sidekick. Elmore Kranz bombards the police with his predictions of disaster until one of them actually happens, to the point that he’s implicated in the plot. Even with the assistance of his one ally, rookie cop Brittney Chase, people start dying around Elmore as attempts are made on his life. Following up on inventions from eccentric genius, Nikola Tesla, Elmore and Brittney team up to solve a hundred year old puzzle while trying to thwart a secret government agency and an Afghani terrorist group who seek to get their hands on a doomsday weapon. Read more...
Court Trouble, A Platform Tennis Mystery
Now available.
When Mark Yeager’s friend is bludgeoned to death in the dark on a platform tennis court, Mark becomes an amateur sleuth to find which of the four suspects is the murderer. Avoiding attempts on his life, he cracks the case, saves the courts from being shut down by the city and learns that he is cancer-free after his bout with prostrate cancer. Read more...
The Switzerland Trail
Now available.
A Sunday excursion in the mountains above Boulder, Colorado, in 1919 leads to murder as intertwined lives play out a mystery on the Switzerland Trail railroad. Policeman Harry McBride must figure out who the murderer is before the train reaches the Boulder station on the return trip. Read more...
The Best Chicken Thief in All of Europe
Now available.
The biography of a World War II veteran who was an infantryman in Europe, captured by the Germans and liberated by the Russians. Along the way he became the greatest chicken thief in all of Europe. After the war he struggled with what we now know as post-traumatic stress disorder, and overcame nightmares and thoughts of suicide to have a happy second marriage and become a successful entrepreneur. Read more...
Retirement Homes Are Murder
Remembering nothing from the day before, crotchety octogenarian Paul Jacobson must become an amateur sleuth to clear himself as a murder suspect when he finds a dead body in the trash chute of a retirement home. As Paul’s snooping and short-term memory loss get him in trouble with the local police, his new friends and granddaughter Jennifer help him solve an expanding list of crimes. Paul finds romance as he struggles to escape a murderer intent on a repeat performance. Read more...
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Living With Your Kids Is Murder
Now available.
Living with Your Kids Is Murder was a finalist for The Lefty Award for best humorous mystery of 2009.
In this the second of the Paul Jacobson Geezer-lit Mystery series, Paul must solve two murders while struggling with the problems of his short-term memory loss. As Paul ends up suspiciously close to a bank robbery, kidnapping and drug bust, his granddaughter Jennifer helps him track down the real perpetrators. Paul juggles two girlfriends, experiences the vagaries of romance and must find a way to stay alive when he confronts the murderer. Read more...
Senior Moments are Murder
Now available.
Cantankerous octogenarian Paul Jacobson must solve a series of murders while struggling with the problems of his short-term memory loss. Paul learns about the homeless community, disreputable art dealers and the beach scene in Venice Beach, California, and must dance a geezer two-step to stay out of the clutches of the police and the bad guys. Read more...
Cruising in Your Eighties Is Murder
Now available.
Cruising in Your Eighties Is Murder is a finalist for The Lefty Award for the best humorous mystery of 2012.
In this, the fourth of the Paul Jacobson Geezer-lit Mystery Series, octogenarian Paul Jacobson runs afoul of the police and ship security while on a honeymoon cruise to Alaska with his bride. Paul must deal with mayhem, missing people and murder. He has to use all his geezer resources to solve a case of international intrigue. Read more...
Care Homes Are Murder
Now available.
In this, the fifth of the Paul Jacobson Geezer-lit Mystery Series, octogenarian Paul Jacobson returns to Hawaii for a vacation with his family and becomes involved in a series of crimes, while struggling with the problems of his short-term memory loss. He faces a number of strange coincidences involving acts of vandalism, drug dealers and two murders. Paul puts all the pieces together, escapes a watery grave, and with the help of his friends, solves the murders. Read more...
Nursing Homes Are Murder
Now available.
In this, the sixth of the Paul Jacobson Geezer-lit Mystery Series, the Honolulu police ask octogenarian Paul Jacobson to go undercover in a nursing home because of a sexual assault. Struggling with the problems of his short-term memory loss, he must also deal with a murder and some of the wacky residents. Paul struggles to not be the next murder victim while he puts all the pieces together. Read more...
Mike Befeler Paul Jacobson Geezer-lit Mystery Series E-Book Box Set
Now available.
Box Set of books 1-4 of the Paul Jacobson Geezer-lit Mystery Series: Retirement Homes Are Murder Book. Living with Your Kids Is Murder, Senior Moments Are Murder and Cruising in Your Eighties Is Murder. Read more...
Mystery of the Dinner Playhouse
Now available.
When a staged murder at a mystery dinner playhouse turns into a real poisoning death‚ recently retired detective Gabe Tremont is called back to solve the crime and discovers the playhouse director‚ the cast and a spy from a competing theater all have reasons to want the murdered man dead. Read more...
The V V Agency
Now available.
Imagine a dash of Philip Marlowe wrapped in an urban fantasy. The V V Agency is a paranormal mystery that spoofs the PI subgenre and introduces the transvictus—a unique shape shifter.
Van and Vanna run a detective agency, but clients never see them together for a simple reason. A sexual encounter transforms one into the other, and nudity renders them invisible. This presents some interesting dilemmas for his and her love lives, but gives them a distinct advantage when doing detective work. In this, the first book in the series, Van and Vanna take the case of a woman suspected of killing her husband. Read more...
The Back Wing
Now available.
Mike Befeler combines his award winning geezer-lit mysteries with his paranormal mysteries in the first paranormal geezer-lit mystery, The Back Wing.
Widower Harold McCaffrey moves into Mountain Splendor Retirement Home with a group of strange residents -- witches, vampires, werewolves and shape-shifters. He bonds with his fellow denizens, especially the beautiful Bella. Things are looking up for Harold -- until he and Bella must use all their normal and extra-normal skills to solve two murders in this very unique retirement community. Read more...
Where to Buy
Order books from your local book seller or your favorite online source:
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Amazon.com
Living With Your Kids Is Murder
Cruising in Your Eighties Is Murder
Mike Befeler Paul Jacobson Geezer-lit Mystery Series E-Book Box Set
Mystery of the Dinner Playhouse
The Best Chicken Thief in All of Europe
Murder on the Switzerland Trail
Court Trouble, A Platform Tennis Mystery
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Barnes & Noble
Living With Your Kids Is Murder
Cruising in Your Eighties Is Murder
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Your Favorite Independent Bookstore
Signed copies of Mike's book can be purchased at the Broadway Book Mall, 200 S. Broadway, Denver, CO
What others are saying
"Humorous and heartbreaking." — Library Journal
"Befeler’s book is a humorous example of the new sub-genre, ‘geezer-lit.’ He portrays the grumpy, arthritic, and sometimes amorous retirement home residents in a down-to-earth way that’s refreshing. Sometimes sad, but mostly funny, his tale of a plucky and sarcastic ‘old fart’ will win your heart." — Mystery Scene Magazine
"Get ready for a good time with the denizens of the Kina Nani Retirement Home as they hotfoot after a murderer. Amateur detective Paul Jacobson can't remember much of anything, least of all whether he's the killer or just the next intended victim. Kudos to Mike Befeler for this witty, clever, and wholly entertaining debut novel." — Margaret Coel, author of The Drowning Man
"Retirement Homes Are Murder is a wonderful debut novel—a fitting entry in the burgeoning field of geezer-lit. Befeler’s clever use of age-related challenges leaves the reader laughing and instills hope in the continued usefulness of the octogenarian crowd. This is a must read for those approaching their ‘Golden Years’ or who have parents who seem older than dirt. I guarantee, you’ll come away smiling and cheering. Bravo!" — Christine Goff, author of Death Shoots A Birdie, a Birdwatcher’s Mystery
"Mike Befeler's funny, feisty, and memory-challenged senior sleuth is a delightful addition to the mystery scene. Don't miss Retirement Homes Are Murder." — Maggie Sefton, author of A Deadly Yarn