Angela Richman, Death Investigator Mysteries
Angela Richman is the Death Investigator for Chouteau Forest, a wealthy suburb west of St. Louis (MO) county. The Death Investigator takes the information at the scene of a death. The Angela Richman, Death Investigator series returns the prolific author to her hard-boiled roots and draws on her personal experiences as a stroke survivor, as well as her studies in the Medicolegal Death Investigators Training Course at St. Louis University’s School of Medicine.
Brain Storm
 | The ultrawealthy families of Chouteau Forest may look down on a woman like death investigator Angela Richman, but they also rely on her. When a horrific car crash kills a Forest teenager, Angela is among the first on the scene. Her investigation is hardly underway, however, when she suffers a series of crippling strokes. Misdiagnosed by the resident neurologist, Dr. Gravois, and mended by gauche yet brilliant neurosurgeon Dr. Jeb Travis Tritt, Angela faces a harrowing recovery. AMAZON: Brain Storm: Viets, Elaine: 9781503936317: Amazon.com: Books |
Fire and Ashes
 | In the exclusive, gated enclave of Olympia Forest Estates, death investigator Angela Richman watches a mansion go up in a fiery blaze. With it, seventy-year-old financier Luther Delor, a drunken, bed-hopping rhinestone cowboy. Embroiled in a bitter divorce, Delor may have scandalized Chouteau Forest, but his murder has united it against the accused: Delor’s twenty-year-old girlfriend, Kendra Salvato, an “outsider.” With an engagement ring bigger than Chouteau County, she’s being railroaded straight to death row as a gold-digging killer. AMAZON: Fire and Ashes: Viets, Elaine: 9781477848807: Amazon.com: Books |
Death Grip
  | Angela Richman, Chouteau County death investigator, finds herself deep in the Missouri woods on a perfect spring day. But there is nothing idyllic about her grim walk – a body has been discovered in a muddy creek, and Detective Jace Budewitz wants Angela on the scene. Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GT631L84/?bestFormat=true&k=beach%20blonde%20betrayal&ref_=nb_sb_ss_w_scx-ent-bk-v2_k0_1_16_de&crid=5QR2KMKPWEOZ&sprefix=beach%20blonde%20bet Thriftbooks: https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/beach-blonde-betrayal-florida-beach-mystery_elaine-viets/57904147/?resultid=9fc2fda1-6b8d-491d-bf5c-35f43f0c693c#edition=74975080&idiq=87898848 |
Ice Blonde
 | Juliet Du Pres, the daughter of a wealthy Chouteau Forest family, sneaks out of her house to go to a high school party with her forbidden boyfriend, Dex, a low-rent mechanic’s son. She wears only heels and a blue velvet dress in sub-zero Missouri weather. At the party are drugs, booze, and rivals for Juliet’s dazzling blonde beauty. On the drive home, Juliet has a fight with her boyfriend, runs into the woods near her house and disappears in the snow. Was Juliet kidnapped? Murdered? Or is she hiding out with a high school stud? Death investigator Angela Richman fights to find the missing girl and save a young man’s life. Amazon: Ice Blonde (Angela Richman, Death Investigator Book 3) – Kindle edition by Viets, Elaine. Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com. |
A Star Is Dead
 | Hollywood diva Jessica Gray is on the last leg of her one-woman show when she suffers a sudden and fatal illness . . . but Angela Richman thinks there’s more to it. “Ageless” Hollywood diva Jessica Gray is finishing the last leg of her one-woman show in St Louis, Missouri, and the nearby town of Chouteau Forest is dazzled. During the show she humiliates three homeless women onstage, fires her entourage – not for the first time – and makes a bitter enemy of the town’s powerful patriarch. After she collapses at an after-show party and is rushed to the hospital, she ignores the advice of her doctors and discharges herself in order to return to LA. On the way to the airport she suffers a deadly coughing fit. It was poison. When Angela Richman’s friend, Mario, is arrested for the murder and faces the death penalty, she is compelled to investigate. With so many grudges held against the actress and Mario’s life on the line, the stakes are higher than ever. Available now Amazon |
Life Without Parole
 | Chouteau Forest’s wealthy are being targeted by the Ghost Burglars, who’ve carried out twelve burglaries over two weeks. So far, there’s been no bloodshed . . . until Tom Lockridge is brutally slain inside his marble mansion during the latest raid. Angela Richman, death investigator for Chouteau County, is called to assess the scene and the body by Detective Jace Budewitz. As they investigate, Jace becomes obsessed with proving the Ghost Burglars weren’t involved in the murder. Can the burglars be ruled out so easily? Is there more to Cynthia Lockridge, Tom’s wife, seeking solace in the arms of the ambitious local lawyer Wesley Desloge? What about Tom’s long-suffering daughter, or his loose-lipped housekeeper or office manager? Everyone is keeping secrets, but whose erupted into violence that fateful night? Available now Amazon |
Late for His Own Funeral
 | Until his Porsche careened off the road killing him instantly and not leaving much of him behind, Sterling Chaney was an influential member of Chouteau Forest – home of the one percenters. As the eulogies at his funeral commence, an unexpected guest interrupts . . . Sterling. The story attracts widespread media coverage. Sterling’s the man who showed up late for his own funeral. He revels in the spotlight, until it’s revealed he earned his fortune via sordid means and exploiting the women who worked for him. It leaves him vilified and shunned by Chouteau society. Then there’s another fatal crash. This time, Death Investigator Angela Richman is tasked with confirming that Sterling has perished. But her investigation reveals more questions than answers. Were both crashes merely accidents, or was someone doubly determined to kill Sterling? Available now Amazon |
The Dead f Night
 | Everyone in Chouteau Forest knows the legend of the Cursed Crypt. It’s claimed that the restless spirit of a professor nicknamed Mean Gene Cortini, buried in Chouteau Forest University’s crypt, has been causing death and destruction in the Forest for almost two centuries. Local residents are used to disease and natural disasters striking every seven years. But not murder. When Trey Lawson outbids the wealthy Du Pres family at the university’s annual Howl-o-ween Benefit Auction, he wins the chance to spend the night in the crypt with his fiancée, Lydia. Angela Richman, Death Investigator, finds their mutilated bodies there the following morning. As Angela investigates, she learns that Trey was threatening the established hierarchy of Chouteau Forest. Has the legend taken a deadly turn, or are Trey and Lydia victims of a vicious power struggle? Available now Amazon |
The Francesca Vierling Mysteries
My first mystery series, set in St. Louis.
| leek, sexy, six-foot-tall Francesca Vierling is a newspaper columnist for the St. Louis City Gazette. Francesca makes her living knowing the story behind the scenes and the secrets other papers miss. There are four books in this series. The Francesca Vierling Mysteries are being re-released by JABberwocky Literary.Love the new covers? Me, too. | ||
 | Backstab In the St. Louis winter, city folks survive the snow and fight for parking spaces in their redbrick neighborhoods. But St. Louis City Gazette columnist Francesca Vierling is investigating two murders — a bartender in a landmark St. Louis saloon and a colorful rehabber. Francesca is desperately looking for a killer — who has already chosen her. Published: 9/1/1997 Pages: 320 ISBN 9780440224310 Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Backstab-Francesca-Vierling-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B07RWDYYR2/ B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/backstab-elaine-viets/1021943577?ean=9781625673435 | |
 | Rubout For serious Harley riders and wanna-bes — RUBS, Rich Urban Bikers — the annual biker ball in St. Louis is a thrill. But this year’s biker ball ends in murder. The victim is a woman who lived well, married bad and divorced hard. Biker chick was only a phase — until she wound up dead. Now newspaper columnist Francesca Vierling must find out who ruined the annual Leather and Lace Biker Ball. But with her career crashing, her love life sputtering, and another murder waiting down the road, Francesca finds out how dangerous it can be when you’re born to be wild — and dare to live that way. Published: 5/11/1998 Pages: 320 ISBN 9780440613480 Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Rubout-Francesca-Vierling-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B07RVCNWTH/ B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/rubout-elaine-viets/1100273110?ean=9781625673442 | |
 | The Pink Flamingo Murders Whacked with a lawn flamingo? A reporter wants to know–who killed with kitsch. The rehabilitation of North Dakota Place is a feel-good story — the kind St. Louis City Gazette columnist Francesca Vierling likes to write. Grand houses restored to former glory. Pride in a neighborhood. Like all good stories, this one has a hero, the woman who made it all happen, the city’s guardian of good taste. Some call her a rehabbing saint, others a fanatic.The first death on North Dakota Place was shocking but not entirely unwelcome. After all, the victim was a cranky old man who had been painting his house purple. The second death, of a drug dealer, brings tacit approval — and growing suspicion. But all bets are off when another victim is found, a socialite unceremoniously whacked with a pink lawn flamingo. Now the neighbors want Francesca to investigate. But her boyfriend wants her to commit to marriage, not crime. Soon the gutsy reporter is experiencing a deepening personal crisis — and something more heinous than vinyl siding: the dark secrets of heart, home, and blighted dreams. Published: 7/13/1999 Pages: 272 ISBN 9780440613510 Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Flamingo-Murders-Francesca-Vierling-Mystery-ebook/dp/B07RWNWVPC/ B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/pink-flamingo-murders-elaine-viets/1100273103?ean=9781625673459 | |
 | Doc in the Box St. Louis City Gazette columnist Francesca Vierling is helping Georgia, her friend and editor, hide her battle with breast cancer. At the Gazette, any hint of illness is death to a career. Francesa is also writing about a gorgeous male stripper, Leo D. Nardo. Then Leo disappears and someone starts killing the worst doctors in St. Louis. If you’ve ever had the urge to kill a doctor, this is your mystery. Published: 7/11/2000 Pages: 256 ISBN 780440236207 Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Doc-Francesca-Vierling-Mystery-Book-ebook/dp/B07RWPDLQF/ B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/doc-in-the-box-elaine-viets/1100290359?ean=9781625673466 | |