This is a 3-book edition containing only the Preston Barclay Murder Mystery #1-3. For the 4-book edition (with The Lazarus File) please use Donn Taylor's Suspense, Thrillers, & Murder Mystery Box Set

BOOK 1: Rhapsody in Red
It was a bad day to find a corpse on campus.

Preston Barclay is a self-made recluse (and he likes it that way). Teaching college history allows him time to grieve the loss of his pianist wife and find relief from the musical hallucinations that have been playing in his head since her death.

But when he and a headstrong colleague, Mara Thorn, discover the body of another instructor on campus, Press's monotonous solitude is shaken up. The preliminary evidence points to Press and Mara. Now they must take some chances, including trusting each other (and bending the rules) to build their own defense. With their unlikely alliance, they must stay ahead of the police, the college's incompetent administration, and whoever is trying to get away with murder.

If not, they might end up unemployed, behind bars, or worse . . .

BOOK 2: Murder Mezzo Forte
Selah Award Finalist

He is a reclusive history professor with musical hallucinations, she a headstrong professor of religion. Earlier, they solved a campus murder, but now police say they formed two-thirds of an illicit love triangle with a newly-murdered female colleague and ... are probably guilty of her murder. A leak of the alleged scandal to the college administration threatens their jobs. Now their desperate attempt to prove themselves innocent of the triangle and the murder plunges them into a tangle of unsavory corporate relationships among college trustees, putting their lives in danger.

Can this ill-matched pair's stumbling efforts succeed against the entrenched efforts of the police, the college's incompetent administration, and the powerful but unseen forces of a criminal organization? If not, they may end up unemployed, in prison, or suffering a fate much worse . . .


BOOK 3: Murder in Disguise

Official verdict: Suicide. But why would that vigorous department chairman kill himself? To avoid disgrace? Those rumored ventures on the dark side? Some other secret life? Visiting professor Preston Barclay wonders. But his questions bring no answers, only anonymous threats. He has enough problems already, proving himself on a strange campus while radical faculty do all they can to undermine him. Worse yet, that sexy siren assigned as his assistant complicates his courtship of the beautiful Mara Thorn.

While Press keeps asking questions, Mara's research reveals a cancer of criminal activity that permeates the community and even the campus itself. The more Press questions, the more dangerous the threats against him become, and the more determined he grows to clear his friend's name.

But can Press and Mara's stumbling efforts prevail against the entrenched forces of the police, the campus radicals, and an unseen but powerful criminal organization that increasingly puts their lives in danger…?

Written for the General Market (G) Eligible for Amazon Prime Reading on Kindle: Contains little or no; sexual dialogue or situations, violence, or strong language.