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George Harmon Coxe

Hoodlums steal a worthless painting, and Kent Murdock wants to know why. A collection of valuable Italian paintings finds its way to Boston, placed in the care of Professor Andrade. Before passing them to a museum, the professor hires newspaper photographer Kent Murdock to document them. On his way to the assignment, Murdock is stopped by a gunman named Erloff, who steals the reporter's identification -- and pays his own visit to the professor. 

 

But Erloff is not after the expensive stuff. He cracks Andrade on the skull and leaves with nothing but a worthless painting of a green-hued Venus. Murdock is perplexed. Why all the trouble for an ugly piece of modern art? But the jade Venus holds a terrible secret -- and blood will flow before it comes to light.

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The Kent Murdock Mysteries

The Jade Venus

An old friend of Kent Murdock's is murdered, leaving him to take the fall. It's been two years since Kent Murdock saw Sheila, and it only takes a few minutes to remember her flaws. While the Boston newspaper photographer was away fighting in the European war, Sheila's cold ambition took her out of the newsroom and into the studio, to write a radio show that's about to land her in the big time. The wallflower he once knew is now the center of attention -- not all of it pleasant. One night Murdock follows her home for a drink. It proves to be a deadly mistake. 

 

A drugged bottle of Scotch knocks Murdock out, and when he comes to, he finds Sheila dead, strangled on the floor. The Scotch -- the only evidence of his innocence -- is gone, and Murdock is the natural suspect for the beautiful young writer's death. Which means he's going to have to find the killer himself.

The Fifth Key

One of Kent's pictures holds the secret to a wealthy man's death. No one has seen titan of industry John Caldwell for nine years when he hires Kent Murdock to take his picture. Caldwell is preparing a landmark announcement, and wants Boston's finest newspaper photographer there to document it. Murdock chafes at the stuffy environment of the Caldwell home -- particularly when Caldwell's heir instructs him to take only one picture. Using an infrared flash, Murdock sneaks a second shot. Less than an hour later, John Caldwell is dead. 

 

Murdock makes a print of his second photo, hoping to find something that explains the strange ways of the Caldwell clan. Before he can examine it, the family's thugs assault him in the dark room, destroying the picture. The photo is gone, but there's no stopping Kent Murdock from learning what's rotten in the Caldwell estate.

The Hollow Needle

Doing a favor for an old friend gets Kent Murdock involved in a murder. Newspaper photographer Kent Murdock goes to Union City for the sake of Helen Farnsley, an old friend whose marriage is in trouble. Long ago he warned her against marrying Lee, and now that their life together has turned sour he wants to help her escape it. But the trouble in Union City starts as soon as he gets to his hotel room. 

 

Behind the mirror, Murdock finds a diamond bracelet belonging to the room's previous resident, a talent agent named Harry who returns a few minutes later to collect it. That night, Murdock sits down with Helen's husband, who asks for a few hours alone in the room to think. When Murdock returns, Lee has been murdered, and the police are looking for the room's owner. Kent doesn't stop to talk to the cops. It would be much easier to find the killer himself.

Eye Witness

Smuggling leads to murder, with Kent Murdock caught in the middle. When the Kemnora, a stately liner on her maiden voyage, docks in Boston, Kent Murdock is there to cover the story. He's joined by Harry Felton, a reporter and one-time foreign correspondent in France. As they leave the port, Murdock notices customs officials working over some passengers, but leaves without a second thought. After all, reporters are never bothered at customs. 

 

Only later does Murdock learn that he left with a small package in his camera bag, hidden there by someone on the ship -- and retrieved later by Felton. He goes to ask Felton why he was used as an unwitting smuggler, but finds the reporter dead on the floor of his apartment. Whatever was in that package was worth killing for, and Murdock will find it, even if it means becoming a target himself.

Lady Killer

While taking pictures at a society wedding, Kent Murdock stumbles upon a murder. 

Every society family has skeletons in its closets, but only the Cannings have a fresh corpse. Kent Murdock finds the dead man while taking pictures at the wedding of Patricia Canning and Roger Armington, scions of Boston's most prominent -- and camera-shy -- families. Patricia and Murdock have been friends for years, and she invited him to photograph the wedding against her parents' wishes. For the killer, Murdock's appearance is very bad luck indeed. 

 

The dead man turns out to be Patricia's ex-husband, whom she spent three days married to before the family pressured him into an annulment. He traveled to Boston in search of blackmail and found death instead. Whichever Canning killed him had hoped to sweep the murder under the rug. But Kent Murdock's camera has a way of finding the truth, no matter how ugly it may be.

The Crimson Clue

A routine assignment gets a PI killed, and Kent Murdock dives into the case. A thirty-eight year veteran of the Boston police force, Tom Brady has recently retired, and is beginning a new life as a private investigator. Struggling to make ends meet, he turns to newspaper photographer Kent Murdock, who recommends him to a society woman who is willing to pay big for his services. Brady's just wrapping up the case when he asks Murdock for a favor: photographing fourteen pages of important documents for safekeeping. Murdock agrees not to look too closely while he takes the pictures -- a decision he regrets when the negatives are stolen and Tom Brady is found dead. 

 

Normally Murdock stays out of the way of the Boston police, but he gave Brady the assignment. To atone, he must unravel the mystery that cost his friend his life.

The Kent Murdock Mysteries - The book series

The Kent Murdock Mysteries - The book series

The Kent Murdock Mysteries books in order

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