Benny Cooperman Books
Myrna Yates was cool and attractive--a real society lady--and in trouble. Benny Cooperman, a private eye in Grantham, Ontario, Canada with a hard head and a tender heart, was ready to help her in any way he could. Her concern? Whether her husband Chester was having an affair. But when Ches commits suicide the day Benny begins his investigation, our detective realizes he may be dealing with something beyond a simple "family affair." Probing into the curious circumstances surrounding the death, Benny finds himself in the midst of a strange group of people--one that involves a mysterious psychiatrist, eminent but shady citizens, and soon, a few more suicides. Or are they murders? Librarian's note #1: the series consists of 12 novels and 2 novellas: #1. The Suicide Murders (1980), #2. The Ransom Game (1981), #3. Murder On Location (1982), #4. Murder Sees The Light (1984), #5. A City Called July (1986), #6. A Victim Must Be Found (1988), #7. Dead And Buried (1990), #7A. The Whole Megillah (1991) (a novella), #8. There Was An Old Woman (1993), #9. Getting Away With Murder (1995), #10. The Cooperman Variations (2001), #10A. My Brother's Keeper (2001) with Eric Wright (a novella), #11. Memory Book (2005), #12, and East Of Suez (2008). A thirteenth, Over the River, was scheduled for 2018 but never came out.
Hollywood elite have gathered at Niagara Falls to make an epic thriller, "Ice Bridge" . When Benny wanders onto the set, he isn't looking for a part. He's tracing a woman missing from Granthan, his home and usual beat. Has she been hit with a lust for stardom? Or is her lust something more conventional - and a lot more dangerous?"Howard Engel is a born writer, a natural stylist. This is a writer who can bring a character to life in a few lines". - Ruth Rendell.
A simple babysitting assignment goes awry and Benny Cooperman, a Jewish private eye from Canada, finds himself confronted with cults, blackflies, and murder
When Rabbi Meltzer and the President of Grantham’s synagogue knock on Benny’s office door, they aren’t looking to sell raffle tickets. Of that much, he’s sure. They need his help in tracking down a missing lawyer who has disappeared with the life savings of half of the Jewish community. Benny knows he’ll never see a dime out of it, but what can you do? It’s summer in the city—and it’s going to be a hot one. Book 5 in the Benny Cooperman Mystery series.
Irrepressible private detective Benny Cooperman becomes embroiled with the seamy side of the glittering Toronto art world after an old friend, an investor in the suddenly valuable works of a local painter, is murdered
Benny Cooperman is sure that toxic waste isn’t something you should spend too much time thinking about—it just isn’t good for your mental health. But when Jack Dowden’s widow appeals to Benny to investigate the death of her truck-driving husband, Canada’s favourite gumshoe finds himself up to his egg-salad-stained lapels in the deadly filth of Kinross Disposals. As he unearths clues—and PCBs—the body count begins to rise, and Benny does his best not to end up ... Dead and Buried . Book 7 in the Benny Cooperman Mystery series.
Lizzy may have died hungry, but she had plenty of money, and somehow former alderman and mayoralty candidate Thurleigh Ramsden, an unsavory character if there ever was one, has gained control of it. Ramsden escapes the inquest with his reputation untarnished, but Benny finds himself hopelessly enmeshed in the posthumous troubles of Kogan's late love. By the end of this twisting, turning tale, the body count has increased alarmingly-but what's happened with the plumbing?
In his most baffling case yet, Benny Cooperman is snug in his bed in quiet Grantham, a town near Niagara Falls, when three unsavory thugs drag him out of bed and present him like a trophy to notorious crime boss, Abram Wise, "the biggest crook in North America who's never been to prison." Someone has made two attempts on the gangster's life and he wants Benny to investigate. An expert in offers you can't refuse, Wise convinces a reluctant Benny to take the case.
Benny Cooperman's favourite lunch counter and diner have closed down and the fittings have been sold to Americans. The nation mourns the accidental death of its greatest artist, cellist Dermot Keogh. It's April and there's already a heat wave. Things are just not the way they used to be. Alas, not just the plots and settings have changed in Howard Engel's 10th Benny Cooperman mystery. While Canada's favourite fictional detective is still his smart-alecky but unsophisticated self ("Dim Sum may be unknown in Grantham, Mr. Cooperman, but we in Toronto have had it for nearly forty years"), his talents seem washed out, if not washed up, in this nasty little mystery set in the high-tech, high-pressure world of a Toronto TV station far up the road from his native Grantham. All the stock figures are the former high school love goddess who calls at the detective's office wondering if she's in the path of a killer, the small-town lawyer, the slobbish cops, the heavies in dark glasses. What's missing are the gritty small-town ambience and naked class antagonisms that drive best hard-boiled detective fiction, including Engel's early novels. Burdened with the bland homogeneity of the contemporary city and with convoluted literary references, the tale becomes progressively less gripping. In fact Cooperman hasn't been himself since 1990's Dead and Buried , when his creator first fell for the suits and the happy ending. The warning of his first sentence--"I should have seen the writing on the wall"--should have been a message to readers as well. --Robyn Gillam
Left for dead in a dumpster, private investigator Benny Cooperman becomes his own client in his most puzzling mystery yet.Benny is recovering in a Toronto hospital from a serious blow to the head. He has a condition called alexia sine agraphia; in layman's terms, it means he can still write but cannot read. And his memory has been affected although he can quote lines from his high school production of Twelfth Night, he finds himself brushing his teeth with his shaving cream. Even his girlfriend's name -- Anna Abraham -- continues to elude him.When Benny learns that he was found unconscious beside a dead woman, he figures he must have been close to solving a case. With Anna working as field agent and two Toronto cops reluctantly sharing their discoveries, Benny pieces together the events that led to a murder-and his own injuries.
The setting is a fictional country, Murinam, which has the feel and look of a former French colony. Benny Cooperman, still recovering from the head injury that impaired his short-term memory, is persuaded to investigate the death of an old schoolmate, Jake Grange. Grange, a family man, ran a scuba diving business before he was, it seems, murdered; his widow wants Benny to find out what happened and recover important documents. Benny’s cognitive difficulties have made his own world alien to him, but, ironically, he’s willing to broaden his horizons by travelling to countries where he can’t read the signs. Benny is now a true cosmopolitan—equally out of place everywhere. Intrigue and suspense amid the denizens of Murinam make this a memorable case for Benny Cooperman. Book 12 in the Benny Cooperman Mystery series.