Howard Engel - Free Library Land Online

The remarkable journey of an award-winning writer struck with a rare and devastating affliction that prevented him from reading even his own writing
One hot midsummer morning, novelist Howard Engel picked up his newspaper from his front step and discovered he could no longer read it. The letters had mysteriously jumbled themselves into something that looked like Cyrillic one moment and Korean the next. While he slept, Engel had experienced a stroke and now suffered from a rare condition called alexia sine agraphia, meaning that while he could still write, he could no longer read.
Over the next several weeks in hospital and in rehabilitation, Engel discovered that much more was affected than his ability to read. His memory failed him, and even the names of old friends escaped his tongue. At first geography eluded him: he would know that two streets met somewhere in the city, but he couldn't imagine where. Apples and grapefruit now looked...]]> Fri, 18 Nov 2011 06:28:19 +0200 A Victim Must Be Found https://sequential-art.library.land/howard-engel/237535-a_victim_must_be_found.html https://sequential-art.library.land/howard-engel/237535-a_victim_must_be_found.html

Benny Cooperman, Grantham's soft-boiled private eye, finds himself mixed up in the art world. More out of water a fish can't get. After all, Benny only heard of Picasso last year, and now he's hot on the trail of some missing paintings by Wallace Lamb—a trail that leads him to some of Grantham's illustrious elite who buy, trade, and sometimes steal pictures. As this private eye soon learns, art can lead to murder—Benny's own client is found dead and the shoes peeking under the curtains at the scene of the crime belong to Benny!Book 6 in the Benny Cooperman Mystery series.]]> Sat, 17 Nov 2007 15:43:12 +0200 Getting Away With Murder https://sequential-art.library.land/howard-engel/239318-getting_away_with_murder.html https://sequential-art.library.land/howard-engel/239318-getting_away_with_murder.html

Benny is, as always, desperate for paying work, but he flatly refuses an invitation to work for Grantham's most notorious crime boss. But Benny doesn't have much of a choice when Abram Wise has him kidnapped in the middle of the night and makes him an ultimatum: either Benny takes the case, or his parents and girlfriend may run into some very bad luck. This mobster's got a long list of enemies in town, but which one is out to kill him?Book 9 in the Benny Cooperman Mystery series.]]> Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:08:30 +0200 Murder on Location https://sequential-art.library.land/howard-engel/243377-murder_on_location.html https://sequential-art.library.land/howard-engel/243377-murder_on_location.html

Hollywood's elite has gathered on the shores of Niagara Falls for the making of the epic thriller Ice Bridge. But when Benny Cooperman wanders onto the set, he's not looking for a bit part—he's doggedly tracking down a woman who is missing from Grantham, Cooperman's hometown and usual beat.Has she been hit with a lust for stardom? Or is her lust for something a little more conventional—but a lot more dangerous? Benny finds himself having to hobnob with movie celebrities—and with murder!Book 3 in the Benny Cooperman Mystery series.]]> Tue, 17 Nov 2015 20:46:52 +0200 There was an Old Woman https://sequential-art.library.land/howard-engel/248269-there_was_an_old_woman.html https://sequential-art.library.land/howard-engel/248269-there_was_an_old_woman.html

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.]]> Fri, 18 Nov 2016 06:28:18 +0200 The Suicide Murders https://sequential-art.library.land/howard-engel/248274-the_suicide_murders.html https://sequential-art.library.land/howard-engel/248274-the_suicide_murders.html

"Meet Benny Cooperman, a Jewish private eye from--of all places--Grantham, Ontario,a small, rather dilapidated industrial town not far from Niagara Falls. Business hasn't been too good lately, but it begins to puck up when the attractive wife of a local real estate operator, Chester Yates, hires him to run a check on her husband. Benny quickly closes the case when he discovers the seemingly innocent cause of Mrs. Yates' worries; closes it, that is, until later that evening when he is stunned to hear that Chester Yates has committed suicide. Or is it suicide? Why would a man buy a bicycle two hours before shooting himself in the head? Benny starts to investigate and finds himself unraveling a complex web involving a mysterious psychiatrist, shady eminent citizens, and soon a few more suicides--or murders..........................."]]> Tue, 18 Nov 1980 06:28:20 +0300 The Cooperman Variations https://sequential-art.library.land/howard-engel/248270-the_cooperman_variations.html https://sequential-art.library.land/howard-engel/248270-the_cooperman_variations.html

Vanessa Moss, an executive with the National Television Corporation, thinks somebody's trying to kill her. To protect herself, she engages the services of old classmate and gumshoe Benny Cooperman to go undercover as her personal assistant. Benny discovers a warren of competing executives, backbiting lawyers, arrogant producers, and sycophantic flunkies. But when an NTC employee is murdered, Benny finds out that taking care of Vanessa Moss is a seductive but risky business.Book 10 in the Benny Cooperman Mystery series.]]> Mon, 18 Nov 2002 06:28:19 +0200 A City Called July https://sequential-art.library.land/howard-engel/237537-a_city_called_july.html https://sequential-art.library.land/howard-engel/237537-a_city_called_july.html

When Rabbi Meltzer and the President of Grantham's synagogue knock on Benny's office door, they aren't looking to sell raffle tickets. Of that much, he's sure. They need his help in tracking down a missing lawyer who has disappeared with the life savings of half of the Jewish community. Benny knows he'll never see a dime out of it, but what can you do? It's summer in the city—and it's going to be a hot one.Book 5 in the Benny Cooperman Mystery series.]]> Sun, 17 Nov 2013 15:43:12 +0200 East of Suez https://sequential-art.library.land/howard-engel/237536-east_of_suez.html https://sequential-art.library.land/howard-engel/237536-east_of_suez.html

Beloved private eye Benny Cooperman is ready to hang up his gumshoes after an attack leaves him with lingering memory problems. But then an old chum goes missing...Hot on the trail of Jake Grange, a schoolfriend who ran a scuba diving business, Benny heads to Murinam, an exotic place with the feel and look of a former French colony. There, Benny encounters a bon-vivant priest, a pretty marine biologist, and an eccentric Englishman in search of kosher food. Of course any of these charming locals could be responsible for Jake's disappearance. But when dead bodies start to appear under the sunny tropical skies, Benny knows he must be getting somewhere. With its sure-footed plot and trademark wry humour, East of Suez proves to be one of Benny Cooperman's most memorable cases.]]> Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:43:12 +0200