Cole Harper Mystery Series

When retired Navy Commander George Praddle vanishes without a trace, his wife turns to private investigator Cole Harper for help. With a sharp wit and a knack for uncovering hidden truths, Harper dives into a labyrinth of lies, betrayal, and dangerous motives. Set in 1947, against the gritty backdrop of post-war Philadelphia, this gripping noir mystery thrusts Harper into a shadowy world where trust is scarce, and peril waits at every turn.

Philadelphia, 1947. When private investigator Cole Harper is summoned to the penthouse of Sam Hensley—a powerful but shadowy industrialist--he knows it's no ordinary case. Luxury goods, military surplus, and counterfeit money are disappearing from Hensley's warehouses, and the clues point to an operation as sophisticated as it is ruthless. But Harper soon discovers this is no simple theft—this is the black market at its most dangerous.

Cole Harper came to Atlantic City for a break—a few days to clear his head, sip a drink, and forget the mess he left behind in Philly. But when a redhead with a Southern drawl and a face he almost recognizes wins big in a backroom casino, then ends up bound to his hotel bed, vacation is over.

Private investigator Cole Harper doesn't go looking for trouble, but when a woman walks into his office claiming her husband is cheating, a simple domestic case turns into something far more dangerous. A photo, a Chinatown receipt, and a string of half-truths lead Harper into a fog of deception, opium dens, and velvet-draped rooms where the wrong question can get a man killed.

Cape May, 1947. Cole Harper thought he was taking a simple case—check on an aging vaudeville star for his worried son. But Marigold House, a crumbling seaside boarding house filled with retired vaudeville performers, has more secrets than applause lines.

When private investigator Cole Harper is approached by Maria Moretti, a woman he barely remembers from 1943, she's holding two things he can't ignore—one of his old business cards and a postcard pulled from her mailbox. The message on the postcard is written in code...but the handwriting is unmistakable. It belongs to her son, Navy Yeoman Third Class Frank Moretti, who the Navy says vanished four years earlier and was officially declared "missing at sea."