Showing results by author "Neil Plakcy" in All Categories

When his mentor, Joe Dagorian, director of admissions at prestigious Eastern College, is murdered during a fundraising event, Steve Levitan feels obliged to investigate. He and his golden retriever, Rochester, go nose to the ground to dig up clues, including a bloody knife and some curious photographs. But will Steve’s curiosity and Rochester’s savvy save them when the killer comes calling? A cozy mystery for dog lovers!

Seamen: From mariners on huge yachts to competitive sailors in races like the America's cup to recreational boaters, the combination of men and water is irresistible. Whether they're wearing Speedos or slickers and handling megayachts or windsurfers, these guys can set sail right to our heart. Neil Plakcy, the editor of Hard Hats, Surfer Boys, Skater Boys, The Handsome Prince and Model Men sailed the high seas and gazed through many a porthole looking for stories of navy men, yachtsmen, and even a pirate or two and the fun they get up to, on land and on sea.

Reformed computer hacker Steve Levitan has built a new life for himself after prison, including a home with his fiancée and his golden retriever Rochester. It matters deeply to him, enough to risk it all to bring justice to a killer in his neighborhood.

Mahu Surfer, the second book in my Mahu Investigations mystery series, sends gay Honolulu homicide detective Kimo Kanapa’aka back to his surfing past. His new boss asks the former competitive surfer to go undercover on Oahu’s North Shore to find the killer of three surfers. The catch: He can't tell any of his family or friends that he has returned to the force, causing him to lie, when he has just come out of the closet and begun to tell the truth about his life. In his return to the North Shore, Kimo discovers trouble in paradise.

There’s a new dog in town--a golden retriever named Luke, in training to be a seeing-eye dog. He and Rochester immediately bond, but there’s something odd about Luke’s human, Ben Ji. How can someone so young afford an expensive townhouse on Sarajevo Way? When Ben is shot, Steve begins to discover the lies he has been telling.

An Alzheimer’s patient slips away from home on his own and tumbles into the Delaware River. And then Steve’s love Lili suffers the crushing loss of her mother in a Miami Beach hospital. Eckhardt Lalor left behind a fortune in real estate, a fractured family, and a bitter legacy as a city slumlord. Does that add up to murder? There’s no question of what killed Benita Weinstock — a dodgy heart — but her death rocks her daughter’s world, and Steve’s. It will be up to Rochester to solve the crime and heal his humans in this new mystery with heart — and fur.

From the moment he sees handsome Liam McCullough showering naked behind a Tunisian bar, ESL teacher Aidan Greene wants to make love to the sexy bodyguard. At first, though, a dead courier and beefy hired thugs get in the way. But as soon as Liam and Aidan head toward a rendezvous with a Tuareg tribe at a remote oasis, they start getting naked together and exploring all the passion Liam hid from as a closeted Navy SEAL and all the love Aidan missed from a long-term boyfriend who has just kicked him to the curb.

When a local gallery owner is murdered, Lili is asked to identify artists who graced an event she photographed two decades ago. As shadows of the past resurface, the couple's wedding concerns pale in comparison to the enigma unfolding before them. Lili digs deep into her memories, Steve scans the dark web for details about a crime that went unpunished, and Rochester sniffs out clues to help them both bring justice.

Openly gay Honolulu homicide detective Kimo Kanapa’aka is faced with a new murder that comes dangerously close to his personal life. About a year and a half has passed since the flames engulfed Waahila Ridge State Park at the end of Mahu Fire. During that time, Kimo and fire investigator Mike Riccardi dated for about six months, but with Kimo so visible and Mike in the closet, the pressures on them increased to the point where their relationship ended. When a fire breaks out at a shopping center Kimo's father used to own and a young boy is killed, they are forced to work together.

Autumn has come to Bucks County, and Steve Levitan has a new job: Develop a conference center for Eastern College at Friar Lake, a few miles from campus. But on his first visit to the property, his golden retriever, Rochester, makes a disturbing discovery: a human hand rising from the dirt at the lake's shore. Whose hand is it? Why was the body buried there? The answers will take Steve, his photographer girlfriend, Lili, and the ever-faithful Rochester to a drop-in center for recovering drug addicts on the Lower East Side....

Mahu Fire begins as openly gay Honolulu homicide detective Kimo Kanapa’aka attends a local charity event in support of gay marriage. When a bomb disrupts the gala, Kimo, his family, and friends are thrust into a deadly contest between good and evil. A wave of religious fundamentalism sweeps through O’ahu, at the same time as violence against gay and lesbian-owned businesses is on the rise. Coincidence? Kimo doesn’t think so. Working with hunky fire inspector Mike Riccardi, Kimo digs through the ashes to discover a motive for the attacks, as well as who is behind them.

Eric and Allie share a history neither of them knows how to forget. Once, they were teenage stepbrothers thrown together by their parents’ marriage. Two boys navigating grief, rigid rules, and feelings neither was ready to name. One night changed everything. Silence followed. Then distance. Then years of pretending it never happened. Now they’re adults. Eric is disciplined, controlled, and freshly untethered after leaving the military and finishing his degree. Allie is rebuilding his life piece by piece after addiction and rehab, determined not to fail again.

Steve Levitan and Lili Weinstock are on their way to the altar—but dognapping and murder get in the way. The theft of the vice-mayor's dog unveils a widespread pattern of canine thefts. Could those poor pooches be on their way to a testing lab or a puppy mill? And how does that case play into the death of a Billy Joel tribute act? Could the caterer they've hired be responsible?

The body in the canal belongs to Steve's old friend. Can Steve and Rochester uncover the clues to what happened to him? When his college friend Doug moves to Stewart's Crossing after an ugly divorce, reformed computer hacker Steve Levitan sees a way to pay forward the help he received under similar circumstances. But when Doug dies under mysterious circumstances, Steve and his crime-solving golden retriever Rochester have a new goal: Find the truth behind Doug's death, even if Steve has to risk the freedom he has fought so hard for to do it.

Larry Leavis is six-foot-six, awkward, brilliant, and used to being invisible in a room full of beautiful men on South Beach. A gifted programmer just starting his career in Miami’s buzzing tech scene, he’s more comfortable behind a keyboard than on a dance floor. Romance? That’s for other people. Larry fixes Wi-Fi, writes clean code, and keeps his crushes safely locked in his imagination. Until one night at a South Beach café-bar changes everything.

Mahu -- a generally negative Hawaiian term for homosexuals -- introduces a unique character to detective fiction. Kimo Kanapa'aka is a handsome, mixed-race surfer living in Honolulu, a police detective confronting his homosexuality in an atmosphere of macho bravado within the police force. A man of intelligence, strength, honesty, resourcefulness, and intense dedication to the people of Hawaii, Kimo is a hard-boiled hero you will never forget.

We all know the fairy tale. The handsome prince comes riding up on his white stallion and rescues the beautiful princess from her enchantment with a single kiss. Then they ride off together to live happily ever after. But what if the person longing for that handsome prince is a man himself? And, why not? Neil Plakcy's The Handsome Prince is a mix of traditional and contemporary stories, each with its own unique fairy-tale atmosphere.

Three thrilling, romantic adventures featuring bodyguard partners Aidan Greene and Liam McCullough—now in one gripping audiobook collection. Olives for the Stranger In the midst of Tunisia’s Jasmine Revolution, Aidan and Liam are hired to protect a young girl caught between political unrest and family prejudice. As protests erupt, the bodyguards are forced to separate—Aidan fleeing with their charge to France, Liam left behind in dangerous territory. With danger on all sides and their bond tested by distance, they must rely on trust, training, and love to reunite and survive.

From the sun-drenched hills of the French Riviera to the frozen shadows of Chechnya, bodyguards Aidan Greene and Liam McCullough return for three deeply personal—and deeply dangerous—assignments in this gripping audio bundle.

Eric and Allie share a history neither of them knows how to forget. Once, they were teenage stepbrothers thrown together by their parents’ marriage. Two boys navigating grief, rigid rules, and feelings neither was ready to name. One night changed everything. Silence followed. Then distance. Then years of pretending it never happened. Now they’re adults. Eric is disciplined, controlled, and freshly untethered after leaving the military and finishing his degree. Allie is rebuilding his life piece by piece after addiction and rehab, determined not to fail again.