Constance and Charlie Books
What is Ramón’s hold on Carl Wyandot, one of the richest men in the country? Carl’s daughter hires Constance and Charlie to find out why her father intends to give a hidden valley in Colorado to him. In the valley there is the mammoth formation called the Gorgon Field, red sandstone pillars that are unscalable, cover an area a mile and a half from front to back, and reach nearly two hundred feet in height. Why is Constance entranced by them? Why are others so afraid of them?
A beautiful set designer with a background of methodical madness is accused of murdering a member of an Oregon repertory theater company, and psychologist Constance Liedl and her husband, private detective Charlie Meiklejohn, investigate. Reissue.
Charlie and Constance must figure out who has been setting fire to abandoned hotels, restaurants, and schools around the country. Reprint.
Charlie and Constance are invited to a VERY unpleasant weekend party given in a super deluxe computer (AI) controlled house. The nasty genius who gives the party has arranged they must play a game of Murder. Things go downhill quickly and horribly with bodies and the creeping question ever at hand. Is the HOUSE doing it?
First victim in this fresh, entertaining mystery is a watchdog named Sadie, owned by Al and Sylvie Zukal, two likable, spectacularly vulgar kvetches from the Bronx who invested some recent lottery winnings on a rural estate in Spender's Ferry, N.Y. After the Zukals' young friend David dies, the well-oiled, older detective team of Charlie Meiklejohn and Constance Leidl begins to question the conclusions of the local sheriff, who labels these and additional inventive killings - by poison, drugs, bees and gas -accident or suicide. Charlie and Constance turn up a barrelfull of suspects: kingmaker Warren Wollander; his childish daughter and her latest guru, a smarmy evangelist; and a gaggle of agrarian scientists, including Warren's wife.
Former arson detective Charlie Meiklejohn and psychologist Constance Leidl team up to investigate sculptor Marion Olsen's artist's colony when bodies begin turning up there. Original.
"SUSPENSEFUL GEMS . . . Nothing is as it first seems in these stories. They unfold at a spellbinding pace." --The Seattle Times "CHARLIE AND CONSTANCE ARE A WONDERFULLY REAL COUPLE. . . . [These stories] are marked by Wilhelm's magic as a tale-spinner and her ability to make us care deeply about her characters." --Minneapolis Star-Tribune In five riveting short novels, those gentle seekers after justice, Constance Leidl and Charlie Meiklejohn, resolve haunting conundrums in which the cheerful face of American life no longer quite conceals underlying evil. From the suburban Northeast to a beautiful hidden valley in the Rockies, from a luxury resort in Florida to Constance and Charlie's own backyard, Kate Wilhelm takes us on a chilling expedition through realms of psychological unease where even angels might fear to tread. Readers with a taste for the mysterious, the unusual, the unexplained, or the truth will find this collection sublime. "PROVOCATIVE AND RIVETING. . . Wilhelm knows what readers like." --Booklist
Wanda believed her murdered husband was communicating with her, using Brother Amos as a go-between. Brother Amos and his daughter Sister Angel were moving into her life, into her home. Charlie and Constance were hired to expose him as a charlatan. The result of their investigation leads to explosive violence that threatens their relationship, their sanity, and even their lives. A computerized cat is the catalyst that starts the action.
Charlie is being framed as a serial arsonist, fires that have resulted in five deaths so far. Their search settles on Peter Eisenbeis as the arsonist, a recently released convict that Charlie was responsible for convicting. Also, Charlie was part of the chase that caused massive brain injury to the man’s infant son. Marla, the child’s mother, has cared for the hopelessly bedridden boy for thirteen years with love and devotion. Only she can lead Charlie and Constance to Peter before another fire is ignited or before Charlie is arrested, whichever comes first.
It started with an insurance fraud investigation that took Constance and Charlie to a luxurious resort hotel in Florida where they found their suspect being stalked by an enigmatic woman. It ends with the couple aboard a fishing boat alone with a ruthless killer, and fighting for their lives.
In a quiet college town in New Jersey five million dollars in cashiers’ checks were hidden in the dead man’s house, and whoever finds the checks gets to keep it all. Two brothers of the deceased, his sister, and the son of another brother have four weeks before the house and its contents become the property of a small college. Two deaths by drowning in the past and another clear case of murder in the present tend to complicate matters. It takes the combined skills of a superbly-trained homicide detective, Charlie, and those of an equally well-trained psychologist, Constance, to unravel the mystery of the Bainbridge curse, and expose a killer.