Holland Taylor Books

Winner of the 1996 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. A Saint Paul PI investigates the murder of the man who killed his wife. Holland Taylor is comfortable in interrogation rooms. For years the cold dark cells of the St. Paul Police Department homicide squad were his turf, and with the help of his partner he wrung confessions out of countless killers. But that was long ago. Tonight Taylor is on the other side of the desk. Tonight he is the suspect. Taylor's career in the department ended after his wife and daughter were killed in a drunk driving accident. The culprit, John Brown, was sentenced to a measly six years for vehicular manslaughter, and Taylor vowed bloody vengeance in front of open court. After a few months of freedom, Brown is shot dead, and Taylor, now a private investigator, is called in as the obvious suspect. He didn't kill John Brown, but he will find out who did if-even it means tearing the Twin Cities apart from the inside out.

St. Paul investigator Holland Taylor finds himself pursued by a hired killer when he tries to recover money for an elderly woman cheated out of her life savings and must untangle a complicated web involving prominent people and large investments.

PI Holland Taylor is no fan of sleazy lawyer Hunter Truman, but when the frantic attorney plays him a tape Alison Emerton left behind when she mysteriously vanished, he can't resist the challenge of unraveling the woman's fate--was she murdered, like thepolice seem to believe, or did she fake her own death

David Housewright’s Edgar Award-winning Holland Taylor series returns with a case of murder resulting from tragic, twisted drama in an extremely wealthy family in Darkness, Sing Me a Song . Holland Taylor is a PI who does simple background checks and other mostly unchallenging cases. Still wounded by the long-ago death of his wife and daughter, and newly mourning a recently failed relationship, Taylor doesn’t have much interest in more challenging work. But almost by accident, he finds himself in the middle of the crime of the century. Eleanor Barrington, the doyenne of a socially prominent family of great wealth, has been arrested for the murder of Emily Denys, her son’s fiancée. Barrington made no secret of her disdain for the victim, convinced that she was trying to take advantage of her son and her family. Taylor had been brought in to do a full background check on Emily, only to discover that both her name and her background were fabricated. Before he could learn more, she was murdered―shot in the head outside her apartment. Barrington had been overheard threatening to kill her son’s fiancé and an eyewitness claims to have seen her kill Emily. But that’s not the worst of it. Barrington’s own son has even worse accusations to make against her. Caught in the dark tangle of a twisted family and haunted by his own past, Taylor finds that the truth is both elusive and dangerous.

P.I. Holland Taylor returns in David Housewright’s Edgar Award-winning series with First, Kill the Lawyers , where Taylor is hired to recover stolen files before they are leaked, ruining more than just the careers of five local lawyers. Five prominent attorneys in Minneapolis have had their computer systems hacked and very sensitive case files stolen. Those attorneys are then contacted by an association of local whistleblowers known as NIMN and are quietly alerted that they have received those documents from an anonymous source. If those files are released, then not only will those lawyers be ruined, but it might even destroy the integrity of the entire Minnesota legal system. This group of lawyers turns to Private Investigator Holland Taylor with a simple directive: stop the disclosure any way you can . But while the directive is simple, the case is not. To find the missing files and the person responsible, Holland must first dive into the five cases covered in the files―divorce, bribery, class action, rape, and murder. While Taylor is untangling the associates and connections between the cases and families affected, things take another mysterious turn and the time before the files are released is running out. As the situation becomes more threatening, Holland Taylor is trapped in the middle of what is legal and what is ethical―between right, wrong, and deadly.

Holland Taylor returns in Girl in a Dumpster , the sixth book in David Housewright’s Edgar Award-winning hardboiled detective series. Party girl Henrietta Weller wakes up one morning in a dumpster behind a bar in Minneapolis’ notorious north side with no memory of how she got there. She hires Taylor and his partner Sidney Poitier Fredericks to get answers. And revenge. “So there’s no misunderstanding later—someone threw me away like so much garbage. Someone is going to pay for that.” Taylor soon discovers that the woman was kidnapped and ransomed back to her mother. What’s more, she wasn’t the only victim. A sophisticated kidnapping ring has targeted the daughters of Minnesota’s rich and famous—and infamous. Taylor and Freddie insist that the FBI be informed. However, a financial guru and fixer for the families demands that the incidents be dealt with and forgotten. Until there’s another kidnapping. And another. And Taylor and Freddie are forced to take matters into their own hands—no matter what the cost. Critical Acclaim for Girl in a Dumpster : “ Girl in a Dumpster marks the return of Holland Taylor and what a welcome return it is! Not to be missed!” —D.M. Barr, author of the domestic thriller Deadly When Disturbed “I wished I had written it… a riveting, edge of your seat gumshoe thriller in the tradition of Sam Spade.” —Vincent Zandri, New York Times and USA Today bestselling Thriller and Shamus Award-winning author of Moonlight Weeps “A gritty but surprisingly heartfelt PI novel; the kind you thought they don’t write anymore, but David Housewright does.” — Scott McCrea, author of Targets West “A solid, traditional private eye story filled with plenty of twists and turns and featuring a solid, traditional private eye—the tough guy with a soft center who plays by his own rules. You won't want to put it down before the heart-stopping but satisfying finish.” —Austin Camacho, Coordinator, Creatures, Crimes & Creativity Con “David Housewright belongs up there with Parker, Crais, and others who have created the private eyes we follow to the ends of the earth just to hear their singular voice.” —Charles Philipp Martin, author of the Inspector Lok novels Rented Grave and Neon Panic “Despite the awards, Housewright has been crime fiction's best kept secret for years. Girl in a Dumpster is an excellent place to jump into this wonderful series.” —Rick Ollerman, author of Truth Always Kills “David Housewright has done it again - weaving complex crime, in this case sophisticated kidnapping; political intrigue; and the tenaciousness of P.I. Holland Taylor and his partner, Freddie, to create a riveting story. Nothing is straight forward or as it seems, but the book rings true. A must read.” —Debra H. Goldstein., award-winning crime fiction author “Holland Taylor is back. That’s the main thing. But Girl in a Dumpster also offers a twisty plot and an irresistible nest-of-vipers cast. Sit back, trust no one, and enjoy the read” —Albert Tucher, author of Pele’s Prerogative and The Same Mistake Twice