Who Wrote the Book of Death? by Steve Liskow

Who Wrote the Book of Death? is Steve Liskow's first full length, romantic mystery. With all the elements of an Alfred Hitchcock movie, this tension-filled thriller and thoroughly engaging storyline is full of suspense! Liskow assembles a strong and in-depth cast of characters, and introduces us to his heroine, the stunningly beautiful, but equally vulnerable, Elizabeth Shepard! Liskow's strong narratives and descriptive prose, no doubt, comes from his many years as an English teacher. Set in New Britain, Connecticut, he carefully chooses a setting worthy of this palpitating storyline that of an aged, very large, mansion in need of repair. Take my advice though, read this one with the lights on!

Someone is trying to kill Elizabeth Shepard who is hiding a painful secret that prevents her from emotionally joining the real world. Instead, she masquerades as the face of the fictitious Taliesyn Holroyd, romance author extraordinaire. In order to pull off the dupe, Beth must move in with Jim Leslie, the real author of the New York Times best seller, Love Insane, and learn everything she can about his novels, as well as his works-in-progress, work habits, and home life, in order to convince his readers that she is indeed the "real" Taliesyn Holroyd. However, things begin to unravel when, one night, she is almost mowed down by a car, escaping only seconds before being hit! Then within days, she receives a threatening email. She quickly realizes that she needs protection and hires P.I., and former cop, Greg Nines. Almost as handsome as she is beautiful, he too is hiding a painful and tragic past. The trouble is that the more time Nines and Beth spend together; the more attracted they are to one another, and the more distracted and unfocused Nines becomes. The question is can Greg Nines find Beth's stalker before he finds Beth?

It is the ease with which Liskow is able to portray his main characters, with as much descriptive detail as possible, that they are able to jump off the page as realistic and believable. Beth Shepard works well as the beautiful and vulnerable, emotionally crippled heroine who is being stalked by a killer and protected by the handsome, but equally guilt-ridden Greg Nines. Both have managed to keep close relationships at bay until they are drawn together by their own past tragedies. However Svetlana Melanova gets my vote as the most colorful of all his characters! She is strong-minded, independent, worldly intelligent, and until she meets her match in James Leslie, views men as nothing but toys! James is Svet's Achilles heel and vice versa. In fact, when Beth first meets Svetlana, she refers to her as the "Ice Queen" but slowly warms to her when she discovers that she has many more layers than she gives her credit for. But the most tragic figure of all is the webmaster Molly Pitkin whose past tragedies have reduced her to a solitary existence as a monotone, expressionless drone; as unfeeling and uncaring as an inanimate object!

Who Wrote the Book of Death? is published by Mainly Murder Press and was released in mid-May 2010. You can purchase it at mainlymurderpress.com, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million and at local bookstores across the country. Liskow is currently working on a new novel, tentatively named The Whammer Jammers. You can also read his short story, Ring of Fire, in the recently released anthology, Thin Ice.

Steve Liskow lives in Connecticut with his wife Barbara and their two cats. He retired from a longtime career as a high school English teacher and now devotes his time to his writing career. He is a member of the Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, and has twice won Honorable Mention for the Al Blanchard Story Award. Stranglehold won the Wolfe Pack's 2009 Black Orchid Novella Award and appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine in the summer of 2010.

Visit Steve's website at www.steveliskow.com.