Benny Cooperman, the working-stiff private eye, is back, this time trying to sort out the kerfuffle surrounding the plumbing, a dead old woman, and a crooked politician.

It all starts with a noisy toilet. Benny's janitor, Kogan, is too preoccupied with the death of his girlfriend, Lizzy Oldridge, an elderly woman who appears to have starved to death. Lizzy may have died hungry, but she had plenty of money, and somehow former alderman and mayoralty candidate Thurleigh Ramsden, an unsavoury character if there ever was one, has gained control of it. As Benny gets enmeshed in the case the body count increases alarmingly—but what’s happened with the plumbing?

Book 8 in the Benny Cooperman Mystery series.

HOWARD ENGEL is the creator of the acclaimed Benny Cooperman mystery series, which has been published in more than 15 languages and adapted into two TV movies produced by the CBC and broadcast around the world. He was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2007, won the Writers' Trust of Canada Matt Cohen award for a life in writing in 2004, and received an honourary doctorate from Brock University. Engel experienced a mild stroke several years ago, leaving him unable to read but still able to write. His experiences of this condition, alexia sine agraphia, have been written about by Oliver Sacks in The New Yorker and in a recent book. Since his diagnosis, Engel continues to write prolifically and has detailed living with his condition through a memoir (The Man Who Forgot How To Read) and in his acclaimed Benny Cooperman series (Memory Book).

Howard Engel's profile page