Len Boswell

"More gleeful madness. Joyous " -Michael Hartnett, author of The Blue RatMurder has come to Crab Cove once more-this time a triple murder. Three young women, one a professional tennis star, are found dead within hours of each other. All have died by lethal injection, and each has the same crab tattoo.Grave and his team set out to investigate the murders, quickly learning that they will be assisted by a young woman from Mars, Kismet Salamander, who has come to Earth as part of an exchange program between Crab Cove and the Mars Colony. Salamander, a quirky and rebellious teen, the first girl born on Mars, has two goals: to solve the case and to check off as many items as possible on her "crater" list of things to see and do on Earth. She proves to be more than capable at both.As the case unfolds, Grave and Salamander discover that much more than murder is involved. To solve the case, they will have to deal with a new technology that threatens not just Crab Cove and the Earth, but the entire universe itself.The year is 2055. Get ready for murders most foul-and fun

Bruce Cargo, a scientist at the British Geological Survey, is stunned when he discovers a journal purportedly written by Charles Darwin. But is the fantastical story it contains real, or is the journal just a hoax?Bruce and his girlfriend Luna set out to determine the journal's authenticity, but as soon as they begin, someone-or some thing-kills the Darwin expert they have just consulted and ransacks Luna's apartment. A witness claims a "flying monster" was responsible, but the police are incredulous.Meanwhile, Lily (Barnum's Angel) in flashbacks to 1882, searches for a series of journals penned by Darwin that she hopes will help her find her brother-and deal with him when she does.Now, more than a century later, Lily is well aware that the monster is her brother, Jamie. So as Bruce and the police pursue him, unknown to them, so does she.

Detective Simon Grave's tour of a local winery turns sour when a body is discovered in the fermentation tank for his favorite wine, Duct Tape Chardonnay. To solve the murder, he and his team of fellow detectives will have to question strangers, a long-lost love, and his choice in wines.Publishers Weekly describes Boswell's PenCraft Award-winning series as a "genre-defying" adventure, a sort of cozy, sort of sci-fi, sort of paranormal, always-funny series set in the quirky seaside town of Crab Cove. As with all Simon Grave mysteries, simdroids (androids who resemble famous people) play a critical role in solving the crime.Expect humorous takes on the advance of technology, the effects of global warming, and nothing less than the meaning of life, death, love, and loss. Get ready for a fun read. The year is 2054, and the future is filled with mystery.

When 15-year-old Rhynt, a disabled but fierce girl with magic skills, decides to run away from a powerful, demanding monk, the last thing she expects is to be taken under the wing of a legendary warrior. There's just one problem. The warrior, Calax Halfhand, is being pursued by assassins. Worse, he's now on a mission to find the man behind the assassins.What neither realizes as they begin their flight and their quest is that forces are already at work to bring them both to a mysterious gathering that will change their lives forever-or end them on the spot. To survive, they must fight through an unforgiving world of assassins, ancient myth, and forgotten gods to a mythical land where their fates await.As they face danger after danger, Rhynt begins to realize she has more than enough power to deal with whatever comes, including the secrets foretold in The Cave of the Six Arrows.

When the head of a hovercycle club inexplicably calls in news of his own murder, Detective Simon Grave and his team are drawn in to Crab Cove's hovercycle underworld, a world of loyalty, betrayal, greed, and-yes-irony. As if murder weren't enough, the bombing of an election debate stage has the mayor pressing for a quick resolution to both crimes. It becomes increasingly clear that the crimes are connected, and that the solution will require the unraveling of an elaborate criminal scheme-and more.As with all Simon Grave mysteries, simdroids (androids who are built to resemble famous people) play a critical role in solving the crime. Expect humorous takes on the advance of technology, the effects of global warming, and nothing less than the meaning of life and death-and love.The year is 2053. Time to hop on your hovercycle and take a fun ride

A demon hound haunts the marshes of Crab Cove, taking its victims as they come and presenting Detective Simon Grave with a challenge like no other.

Here, for the first time, are the complete incomplete works of Len Boswell, the premier stick-artist of Sticklandia. From simple stick drawings to re-creations of master works, Boswell's drawings explain, excoriate, discombobulate, entertain, and teach. With frivolity at the fore, he opens his world to us, letting us see everything from a fresh, if often demented, perspective. Author and art historian Sticky Stickerson lets the drawings speak for themselves, only interrupting to point us in new directions as the full Boswell catalog opens, unfolds, and engulfs. With this book, Boswell and his art rise from obscurity to a whole new level-perhaps just above obscurity and maybe off to the side somewhat. At any rate, it's very foggy in Sticklandia, so it's hard to tell most days. Whatever his status, this book will surely help you keep your grip on frivolity. Enjoy

YOU MAY NOT BELIEVE IN SANTA CLAUS, at least not at your current age, but if you celebrate Christmas, you know there was a time when you believed with all your heart, a time when you weren't quite sure, and a time when the truth became all too clear. The twelve stories that follow reflect a mix of those emotions and events, told by the man-then boy-who experienced them in the early 1950s. As anyone who has experienced Christmas morning can tell you, there will be joy and pain, disappointment and even heartbreak-the whole panoply of emotions on proud and not-so-proud display. Most of the stories are funny, and some are poignant; all are meant to remind you of your own stories of those halcyon days, when you laid in bed with tooth-picked eyes, trying with all your might to stay awake long enough to see the jolly old elf.And so we begin. I am eight again, tugging on shoes too small and holey mittens warmed overnight on the living room radiator. I have already donned two pairs of pants and my only three shirts to brace myself against the cold. My mother appears beside me, young and pretty as always, insisting that I wear my Christmas scarf, a scratchy abomination as long as an anaconda, knitted loosely and tightly by my Aunt Louise, using a geometry known only to her. Despite my protests, she wraps Scarf Louisienne around my neck several times and nudges me toward the front door.Outside, the world is white and still, the only sound the whisper of the falling snow. I lift my head to the snowy heavens, stick out my tongue, and accept winter's cold communion.Come, we have much to see.

Flicker is a modern-day ghost story set in a haunted diner. When Charlie Brace buys, refurbishes, and opens a diner that's been up on blocks for many years, he gets much more than he bargained for, from neon signs that flicker insanely, to a quirky staff, to odd customers, to an even stranger hobo-philosopher who picks through his dumpster while lecturing him on the moon and mythology, to the amorous advances of the previous owner's widow, to a mysterious mother and child who appear at the diner one morning carrying steaming baskets of pies that are, in a word, charmed, to the appearance of ghosts with murderous intentions.Are the mother and child ghosts or do they just bake great pies? What about Charlie's head waitress, who dresses like a woman from the 1950s and spouts diner lingo no one has used in years? What about the man in the dumpster? What about the widow, who seems to be holding back about her husband's death? And what about the customers, who grow anxious and impatient whenever the pie runs out? Who exactly are the ghosts, why are they haunting the diner, and why do they want to kill Charlie?L. Rett Boswell is also the author of The Leadership Secrets of Squirrels and SKELETON: A Bare Bones Mystery.

Ready for a zany, irreverent, and sexy mystery that will have you turning pages into the wee hours? Well, here it is: SKELETON: A Bare Bones MysteryTHE PLOTA Blockbuster employee on a smoke break discovers a human skull in an overflow pond, setting off speculation that the skull may belong to a graduate student at the local college who mysteriously disappeared the year before. Inspector Jeremy Wolf, a widower, wine lover, would-be author, and long-time detective, takes on the case, assisted by Jack Mathers, a curmudgeonly medical examiner with a fondness for jelly donuts, and Kate McCormick, a beautiful rookie officer who has more than a passing interest in Wolf.The continuing investigation leads Wolf and Kate through taxidermy shops, dermisted beetle farms, tattoo parlors, and the halls of the local university. And then more women begin disappearing.Through all this, Wolf and Kate are hounded by TV reporter Paige Pataki, who hopes to displace the current top story-the strange appearance of an emu in town and the fruitless, Keystone Kops attempts to capture it-by an in-depth series on the evolving case that she hopes will finally land her an anchor job. The stories, with on-screen interviews of Wolf and Kate, do not go unnoticed by the killer, especially where Kate is concerned.THE OTHER CHARACTERS- Leaf Erickson (an amateur environmentalist, who has a habit of "casting" people on their resemblance to actors)- Jelly Jansen (line supervisor at Vibrildo Corporation, maker of fine sex toys)- Sonya Alvarez (pleasure tester at Vibrildo)- Lester "Less" Owens (the dwarf proprietor of A Fur Off Place taxidermy salon)- Pinky Brown (owner/artist at Ink-a-Dink Tattoo and Piercing)- A reward-seeking, emu-hunting cowboy and his faithful horse- A piece of DOTS candy- Bob White (a cheap white wine and close personal friend of Inspector Wolf)- Faith Pancake (college student and lover of Sophie Vestibule)- Sophie Vestibule (graduate student and lover of Faith Pancake, Jonathan Dorn, and Professor Ronald McDormand)- The Principessa (Sophie's trusted vibrator)- Jonathan Dorn (English Major)- Ronald McDormand (English Professor)And that's not counting a host of other memorable characters driving the action and creating good, good, good, good vibrations