Alex Reynolds Mystery Series

1. Government Gay (1997)
   With Peter, his longtime lover, busy for the evening, Alex Reynolds decides to stop in for a quick beer at a local Chicago gay bar, where he is inadvertently mistaken for an agent receiving important information. Along with his lover and his unflappable mother, Jean, Alex soon finds himself the target of government agents and foreign agents, both of whom are convinced he knows something he isn't revealing. Alex must first discover what he's unwittingly become involved in and then rescue himself, Peter and Jean from it before they all come to a permanent conclusion.

2. Federal Fag (1998) -- Nominee 1998 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Men's Mystery
   On a visit to Los Angeles with his husband, Peter Livesay, Alex Reynolds discovers that an old college friend, Patrick Gleason, has become involved in gay porn. When Patrick is murdered, Alex and Peter launch an investigation that leads them into a web of conspiracy from which they may never return. With the help of Jean, Alex's mother, they try to untangle the web ...

3. Capital Queers (1999)
   Alex Reynolds, his husband Peter, and Alex's mother are thrust into a confusing and deadly game when friends of theirs are killed for possessing a stolen religious artifact. Now, in addition to inheriting their friends' annoying dog Muffin, the killers believe that Alex and his family also possess the missing artifact, putting Alex next on their list if it isn't found and returned.

4. National Nancys (2000)
   When the office of a gay-friendly senatorial candidate is blown up, Alex Reynolds and his husband Peter Livesay are called upon to infiltrate the new office to try to discover the culprit. Meanwhile, Alex's mother Jean is romanced by a handsome Brit who may or may not be implicated in the explosion!

5. The Chicken Asylum (2001)
   Alex, Peter and Jean help a defecting Iraqi soldier elude American agents and a terrorist group bent on eliminating him and wreaking havoc in the States!

Jeremy Ransom/Emily Charters Series

1. Presence Of Mind (1994)
   The first Jeremy Ransom / Emily Charters mystery. Chicago Police Detective Jeremy Ransom is assigned to investigate the seemingly random shooting of Lawrence Watson. When Ransom finds his investigation running into a blank wall, into his life comes Emily Charters, a sharp, elderly woman who unknowingly holds the key to a series of murders.

2. Ransom For An Angel (1995)
   Angela Stephens gave Chicago detective Jeremy Ransom all the details of an impending murder, including a description of the killer: her husband. But when Angela turns up dead, Ransom doesn't believe that the husband is the killer, and with the help of his confidante Emily Charters, he probes into Angela's murky past to solve her murder.

3. Ransom for Our Sins (1996)
   While Emily is recuperating in the hospital from bypass surgery, Ransom and his partner are assigned to a bizarre murder case in which the young victim was found bearing the marks of the stigmata. His investigation leads him into a strange religious community where neither the leader nor his followers are willing to talk. With the help of Emily's advice, Ransom must find the murderer before another murder occurs.

4. Ransom for a Holiday (1997)
   Chicago homicide detective Jeremy Ransom has decided to take Emily Charters, friend and partner-in-sleuthing, away to a picturesque Michigan guest house for Christmas. Ransom wants it to be restful and restorative for Emily, who is still recovering from open heart surgery. But they soon find themselves entangled in a two-year old mystery--the brutal murder of the brother of the owner of the inn--a mystery whose solution hides some very real danger ... (Also Available in the Worldwide collection "Tis The Season For Murder: Christmas Crimes")

5. Ransom for a Killing (1998)
   DNA tests prove Ben Harvey innocent of the rape he was convicted of nearly a decade ago. But when his conviction is overturned and he is released, his accuser is mysteriously and brutally murdered. To solve this murder, Ransom--with the help of his friend Emily Charters--must reopen the ten-year-old crime.

6. Ransom Unpaid (1999)
   The elderly Abigail Pearson has a heart attack at home when she has a "vision" of her long-disappeared husband. When Emily Charters goes to stay with Abigail to look after her, Emily begins to believe something nefarious is indeed afoot. The strangest case yet for Emily and her friend, Chicago police detective Jeremy Ransom.

7. Ransom at the Opera (2000)
   Emily Charters is in the audience on opening night of Carmen, the inaugural production at the new Sheridan Center for the Perfoming Arts. When the actor playing Don Jose dies during the performance, it's up to Chicago Police Detective Jeremy Ransom (with Emily's help) to solve the case!

8. The Mummy's Ransom (2002)
   An exhibit of Chinchorro mummies opens in Chicago at Dolores Tower amidst controversy and protests. But when one of the mummies is reported moving around, and the equally controversial owner of the building, Louis Dolores, is attacked and events turn deadly, Chicago police detective Jeremy Ransom is called in to investigate. With the help of his adoptive grandmother, Emily Charters, he must sort out what could be his strangest assignment ever.

9. Ransom at Sea (2003)
   Emily Charters wonders if she has let her imagination run away when she suspects that things are not quite right on the seniors' cruise of Lake Michigan put together by her church. But suspicion turns to certainly when one passenger turns up dead, and another is accused of the murder. It's up to Emily, with the help of her adoptive grandson Chicago Police Detective Jeremy Ransom, to unravel the mystery.

Other

• Tis The Season For Murder: Christmas Crimes (1987) by Barbara B. Smith with Fred Hunter
  Anthology of two reprinted Christmas murder mystery novels and an original short story:  Barbara Burnett Smith's "Mistletoe from Purple Sage"; Fred Hunter's "Ransom for a Holiday"' and Walter Satterthwait's "Beneath the Sighs."