Fred Carver Books

Tropical Heat is a first-rate detective story. Fred Carver, an Orlando cop until a gunman's bullet shattered his kneecap, acquires a cane and a new career, private investigating. From beach resorts and luxury condos, to the swamps and smuggler's coves of the Everglades, Carver looks for a man who police think committed suicide. Mysterious coincidences follow, Carver's life is threatened and he falls for his client, Edwina Talbot. Deception and confusion make the case into a maze, until bitter betrayal provided an explosive vehicle for a surprising climax.

Scorcher, the fourth book in a series that includes Tropical Heat, Flame and Kiss, again features Florida private detective Fred Carver. A serial killer is on the loose, a maniac wielding a homemade flame thrower fashioned from a scuba tank. He has murdered three people - and one of them is Carver's eight-year-old son. Carver will do anything to find his son's killer and exact a father's revenge. All clues point to the brilliant schizophrenic son of one of Florida's wealthiest families, and when the suspect goes on the run, Carver sets out to hunt him down. A gripping story of long-buried secrets and burning hate, Scorcher is a taut, explosive and thoroughly unforgettable mystery.

A "natural death" at the Sunhaven Retirement Home may be murder, and private eye Fred Carver must outwit a smooth-talking administrator, a menacing head nurse, and a host of others determined to stop him

A car bomb sets off a murder investigation for detective Carver when the victim, who has identified himself as Bert Renway, produces dental records that contradict his statement

Series hero PI Fred Carver guards a client's heroin-addict wife in this quick and jaunty read. At first, Robert Ghostly seems sincerely worried about Elizabeth, but Carver develops doubts after he is nearly hit by a bullet that kills Elizabeth's sister. Then he learns that his client, who is really Roberto Gomez, one of Florida's most brutal drug dealers, blames the stillbirth of a son on his wife's habit. Roberto wants revenge, but Carver wants out--until beautiful Elizabeth turns up and begs him to help her. After discovering that she was never an addict and that her son is alive, Carver altruistically agrees. Together they drive to a motel in the wilds of Florida, where Elizabeth, who is black, infuriates a pair of rednecks who then add to their problems. Fortunately for Carver and Elizabeth, Roberto is being followed by a cop. While failing to build up much suspense, Lutz ( Flame ) supplies a credible twist at the end of this absorbing tale.

Private eye Fred Carver investigates the slaughter of an ex-cop, the murder of a man who was found stuffed to the gills with cocaine, and other crimes. Reprint.

In John Lutz's seventh mystery of this acclaimed series, disabled Florida P.I. Fred Carver is hired by the redoubtable Hattie Evans to investigate the death of her seventy-year-old husband, Jerome. Although the doctors say he had a heart attack, an anonymous note claiming Jerome was murdered stirs Hattie's doubts about the cause of her husband's death. The Evanses lived in Solartown, one of the new breed of retirement communities catering to all the needs of its residents: golf course, health center, grocery store, recreation facility - everything but a morgue. An ideal kind of place; that is, until Carver begins to suspect that the good people of Solartown may be dying just a bit too soon. Is the community really as benign as it appears on the surface, or does it harbor a very methodical killer? Another death brings Carver and Hattie tragically closer to the secrets hidden within the seemingly serene, pastel-colored walls of Solartown's homes. But a torturous encounter with a sadistic and homicidal addict and a shattering series of events tell Carver that a conspiracy of good intentions and corporate greed may be to blame - and may also be the end of him.

In John Lutz's eighth mystery in the acclaimed series, disabled Florida P.I. Fred Carver takes the unusual case of a married woman, Donna Winship, who wants him to follow her - and her lover. Minutes after Carver accepts the job and a thousand-dollar retainer, Donna is struck by a speeding tractor trailer. Her death looks like suicide, but could it be murder? MacGregor, the corrupt Del Moray police lieutenant, is happy to label Donna's sudden death a suicide and close the file, but Carver, out of professional pride and an irrational but haunting feeling of guilt, decides to pursue the deeper truth he senses behind her case. When Donna's husband commits suicide and her lover disappears, it's clear something far more complex - and evil - than bizarre coincidence is at work. Carver soon finds himself in a maze of escort services and blackmail, and the strange things people do for love and money. But is murder part of the plan, or is death simply the penance of a guilty conscience? When the game for Carver becomes one of seduction and a very dangerous attraction, he is forced to face his own vulnerability, and finds it just might lead to his own death. With a palpable sense of place and characters that range from the wittily memorable to the nightmarishly chilling, John Lutz once again creates a superior mystery for his many fans.

Disabled Florida private detective Fred Carver takes on the case of Joel Brandt, a man accused of stalking a woman he claims he has never met, who has become convinced that he is being set up for a kill.

Disabled Florida P.I. Fred Carver faces the most painful case of his career when his lover is injured in a bomb blast that kills two abortion clinic workers, and Carver must discover whether the bomb was the work of a religious zealot, or a personal vendetta.