cover image Stream of Death: An Ed McAvoy Mystery

Stream of Death: An Ed McAvoy Mystery

Bill Stackhouse. Poisoned Pen Press, $23.95 (226pp) ISBN 978-1-890208-56-1

Tying together a Sicilian pendant stolen during WWII, a triple murder and jewel heist in Detroit in the recent past, as well as buried treasure and murder in the present-day Catskills, Bill Stackhouse introduces a strong, likable new police hero in his debut novel, Stream of Death: An Ed McAvoy Mystery. When the body of an older man befriended by McAvoy's girlfriend's teenage son turns up in a river, the Ulster County, N.Y., police chief soon finds a trail leading from the victim's obliging fishing buddies to a vengeful mafioso. A playwright and scriptwriter, Stackhouse shows a sure touch in this blend of the hard-boiled and the lighthearted.