THE TRUMAN SMITH PRIVATE EYE SERIES: Truman Smith operates on Galveston Island, not far from Houston. The first book in the series, Dead on the Island, was nominated for a Shamus Award by the Private-Eye Writers of America.

In Murder Takes a Break, Galveston, Texas principal investigator Truman Smith loathes missing person cases because they either end up badly for his clients, or the person does not want to be found. So only as a personal favor to his friend Dino would Tru accept the case of missing college student, Randall Kirbo, who disappeared in the area while on Spring break nine months ago.

After sifting the facts from the very minimal police investigation on the case, Tru tracks Randall to a house owend by a local vice queen, Big Al. Another kid who attended the same party was later found dead on the beach As the investigation unfolds, it becomes clear that this is anything but a typical missing person's case, and the party - and it's attendants - hold the clues to a killer, and his case.

BILL CRIDER : "I was born and brought up in Mexia (that's pronounced Muh-HAY-uh by the natives), Texas. The town's most famous former citizen is Anna Nicole Smith, whom my brother taught in biology class when she was in the ninth grade. I've always lived in small Texas towns, unless you count Austin as a large town. It wasn't so large when I lived there, though. I attended The University of Texas at Austin for many, many years. My wife (the lovely Judy) says that I would never have left grad school if she hadn't forced me to get out and get a real job.

I eventually earned my Ph.D. there, writing a dissertation on the hardboiled detective novel, and thereby putting my mystery-reading habit to good use. Before that, I'd gotten my M.A. at the University of North Texas (in Denton), and afterward I taught English at Howard Payne University for twelve years. Then I moved to scenic Alvin, Texas, where until 2002 I was the Chair of the Division of English and Fine Arts. I retired in August 2002 to become a either a full-time writer or a part-time bum. Take your pick."

FIND MORE OF BILL CRIDER'S BOOKS IN DIGITAL FROM CROSSROAD PRESS, including more Truman Smith mysteries, the Short Story collection The Nighttime is the Right Time, Westerns, and his long out of print horror novels under the name Jack MacLane.

Crossroad Press is happy to present mysteries from a number of prolific and talented authors, including Bill Pronzini, John Lutz, Tom Piccirilli, Ed Lynskey and more. Search these authors by name, or simply search CROSSROAD PRESS in the Nook store for more titles to choose from!