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This page lists novels, short story collections, and non-fiction by William L. DeAndrea. Novels published using the penname Philip DeGrave are included in the list.

Cover images are when possible of the first US edition and a recent paperback or digital edition.

By William L. DeAndrea:
- novels, story collections
- non-fiction

Killed in the Ratings

William L. DeAndrea

1978

A Matt Cobb novel.

"Cobb's no stranger to following mysterious orders, so when he receives a telephone call asking him to visit a hotel room he obliges. The invitation, however, means a dead body, a sharp blow to the head, and suspicion from the police that he committed the crime. And while one of the detectives put on the case has known Cobb since he was a child, the other is convinced of his guilt. Can Cobb stay on point when the stakes are so high? Can he find the real killer and persuade the police of his innocence? And what do television ratings have to do with it all?"

The Hog Murders

William L. DeAndrea

1979

A Professor Niccolo Benedetti novel.

"In the upstate New York town of Sparta, six people die in three weeks. At first the incidents seem accidental: A highway sign drops onto a car full of teenage girls, an old man falls down a set of stairs, and a boy is struck by a sheet of ice that had been building on his garage. But after each case a note turns up. Someone called 'Hog' claims responsibility for each death, and taunts the police to catch him before he strikes again. The deaths have everybody talking, and the local police department is eventually forced to share the case with famous Italian detective Niccolo Benedetti and his protégé, would-be cop turned private investigator Ron Gresham. A painter, ladies' man, and rule-bending genius, Benedetti views every case as a chance to probe the nature of evil. And with his 'analyze and imagine' method, he'll pursue the killer both to stop him and to study him."

The Lunatic Fringe: A Novel Wherein Theodore Roosevelt Meets the Pink Angel

William L. DeAndrea

1980

"As a newspaper war flares between Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, noted cartoonist Evan Crandall is murdered in his apartment. When police officer Dennis Muldoon finds the body, he also discovers a naked, sultry beauty blindfolded and tied to the bed. She pleads with him to free her, but after he unties this mysterious 'Pink Angel,' she steals his gun and escapes. Meanwhile, anarchists are planning to blow up the Croton Reservoir during a millionaire's nearby wedding reception. Enter the police commissioner, Theodore Roosevelt. With the help of Officer Muldoon, Roosevelt is on a mission to set the city in order, and that will mean putting a stop to escalating crime, and locating the mysterious Pink Angel."

Killed in the Act

William L. DeAndrea

1981

A Matt Cobb novel.

"Matt Cobb may not be a detective by trade, but there are times when he sure feels like one. As the VP of special projects for a television conglomerate, Cobb is an expert at getting the network out of tricky situations. Now his company is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary with a weekend-long extravaganza, flying in dozens of celebrities for a prime-time party. And as the event approaches, egos flare, nerves fray, and someone sabotages the studio. First a reporter drowns in a TV star's pool. Then an actress's bowling ball -- her lucky talisman - is stolen, and some important kinescopes disappear. As the body count climbs, Cobb finds himself asking if these strange events are connected, and if so, who is behind them?"

Five O'Clock Lightning

William L. DeAndrea

1982

"In 1953 America, McCarthyism is everywhere. Congressman Rex Harwood Simmons is among the leaders who single-mindedly hunt down suspected Communists; he even claims that Communism has infiltrated America's favorite pastime. But while watching a Yankee game one afternoon, he becomes a target. As the crowd cheers for a homerun, Simmons is shot dead in his seat. The task of solving the crime falls to onetime ballplayer and Korean War veteran Russ Garrett, who collaborates with 'Vicious Aloysius' Murphy, a Bronx homicide detective. The investigation won't be easy, since there are plenty of people with a motive to plug Simmons. Several clues point to a blacklisted intellectual - but he was driven to suicide years ago. And as Garrett hunts for the killer, a new conspiracy comes to light: a plot to murder Yankee star Mickey Mantle."

Killed With a Passion

William L. DeAndrea

1983

A Matt Cobb novel.

"Matt Cobb, an executive who is tasked with smoothing over sensitive situations for a major television network, is used to looking disaster in the eye. But while traveling upstate to look into rising corruption in the sale of cable broadcasting licenses, and mixing with some old college friends, he doesn't expect murder to rear its ugly head. Cobb's former roommate, Dan Morris, is still pining over his ex-girlfriend Debbie Whitten, who's about to marry another man. But on the night before her wedding, Debbie is killed with a crushing karate blow to her throat, and Dan is accused of murder. Cobb has to prove his friend's innocence -- no mean feat given that Morris was a martial arts expert and publicly vowed to put a stop to the marriage -- and also that a shady DA has an agenda in locking him up. Meanwhile, the cable corruption issue won't die down, and Cobb becomes the target of a goon dubbed 'The Organic Hit Man,' who kills with whatever's handy."

Killed on the Ice

William L. DeAndrea

1984

A Matt Cobb novel.

"The TV network's expert troubleshooter, faces a literal case of cold-blooded murder. At two in the morning, he stands in a Manhattan ice rink, over the grisly body of Dr. Paul Dinkover. The network was supposed to be taping a figure-skating special, and this discovery can't be a coincidence. The victim is a psychologist, one so thoroughly disagreeable that any number of people could be considered suspects -- including beautiful Wendy Ichimi, the show's celebrity skater. But while Cobb's men are mysteriously attacked, he can't stop thinking about the way Dinkover died gripping an American flag, a symbol or clue he can't unravel. And as the leads and tension mount, it will take all of Cobb's strength to keep his cool and remain on his two feet."

Cronus: A Novel Of Espionage

William L. DeAndrea

1984

A Clifford Driscoll novel.

"Clifford Driscoll, raised to be an agent by his father, who heads an intelligence agency, uncovers a thirty-year-old KGB plot known as the Cronus project."

Snark

William L. DeAndrea

1985

A Clifford Driscoll novel.

"If they're going to take you, let them take you with your eyes open. That's the credo of Clifford Driscoll, the American spy at the center of Snark, the follow-up to William DeAndrea's Edgar award-winning Cronus. Driscoll has gone by many names in his short, eventful life, and he's just borrowed another: that of Jeffrey Bellman, an agent his Russian enemies at Cronus consider dead. As the son of a formidable secret intelligence director, Driscoll/Bellman is used to all kinds of existential ducking and weaving. The new Bellman is sent to England to find Sir Lewis Alfot, a missing former British intelligence chief. He hasn't even left the London airport, though, before assassins target him. They come courtesy of Leo Calvin, a terrorist Bellman's dealt with in the past -- and Calvin has just kidnapped Alfot as bait. Can Bellman stop Calvin in his tracks, and is Alfot, for his part, as respectable and law-abiding as he seems?"

Unholy Moses

Philip DeGrave

1985

"Assigned to investigate the murder and grand larceny following upon the unveiling of a work by America's hottest new painter, Detective Sergeant Teresa Webb ignores her cartoonist husband's intuition about the missing masterpiece until it is nearly too late."

Keep the Baby, Faith

Philip DeGrave

1986

"Faith has just enough time to dodge the speeding car. She leaps backwards and falls onto the sidewalk, breaking her thumb in an attempt to protect her pregnant belly. When she picks herself up off the ground, the baby is safe, but Faith is anything but. Desperate for help from someone she can trust, she turns to her old friend Harry Ross, a frustrated writer with a dead-end job at a prestigious New York paper. He's hungry for adventure and about to get more than his fill. Faith claims that her dying husband's family wants the baby dead, to protect their inheritance. She's survived four attempts on her life over the past few days, and Harry must head off a fifth. When this week is over, Harry will have something he never expected: either a murdered girlfriend, or a family of three."

Azrael: A Novel Of Espionage

William L. DeAndrea

1987

A Clifford Driscoll novel.

"Allan Trotter's counter-espionage service began at birth: His father, the head of an ultra-secret intelligence wing of the US government, deliberately conceived him with a gorgeous Russian spy. Raised to navigate a crooked world, Trotter was immersed in deception, danger, and narrow escapes. He's a perfectly honed agent, but he desperately wants a normal life. Trotter is pulled out of his life of seclusion, though, when the Russian spy outfit Cronus sends their Angel of Death, Azreal, to a sleepy town in Upstate New York to knock off innocent people. The aim? To scare back a stray agent: Petra Hudson, now the happy CEO of a media conglomerate worth billions, who has put her spying past behind her -- or so she thinks. Ignorant of her mother's double life, Hudson's daughter, Regina, a newspaper editor, has unknowingly alerted the Agency. And since fighting Cronus is the one thing that can give Trotter's life meaning, when he learns that Regina -- a kindred victim of the organization -- is at risk, the stakes feel even more crucial."

Killed in Paradise

William L. DeAndrea

1988

A Matt Cobb novel.

"A cruise ship full of mystery writers may sound like a fantasy for some, but for Matt Cobb, whose job consists of untangling serious knots for a large television network, it's anything but - especially when it results in a real-life murder to solve. Cobb is snatched from his normal duties at the network and put on a boat to St. David, to act as minder for two winners of a radio contest. The winners happen to be attractive women, a small bonus, but Cobb can hardly enjoy his time with them before a macho writer takes an active dislike to him and a corpse appears. And when some kitchen knives go missing - along with quarreling writer Lee Schaeffer -- and other killings and disappearances ensue, Cobb ends up looking to a visiting Mafia boss for clues. But to get to the truth, he will have to work his way through the theories of amateur sleuths and save his own neck."

Killed on the Rocks

William L. DeAndrea

1990

A Matt Cobb novel.

"A remote mansion, a blizzard, and lack of phone service: It's an opportunity a killer can't pass up. Matt Cobb, the in-house troubleshooter for a television conglomerate, is summoned to an executive meeting at the Adirondack home of billionaire G. B. Dost. Dost plans to acquire the TV network, and the shareholders are anxious about the rich man's intentions. One of the bigwigs might even prefer murder to a takeover. Sure enough, the morning before negotiations would start, Dost is discovered dead outside his lodge - surrounded by forty feet of smooth, unbroken snow -- and Cobb is faced with the task of interrogating guests. And matters are only complicated by Dost's psychic wife, his off-kilter son, and a haunting message somehow relayed on a television found to be unplugged."

Atropos

William L. DeAndrea

1990

A Clifford Driscoll novel.

"Driscoll, now known as Allan Trotter, hasn't killed anyone in more than a year. He still works for the Agency - a super-secret intelligence unit of the US government known only to the president and its founding congressman - but he's too full of pins and plates to be a field agent anymore. To top it off, he's so smitten with beautiful media mogul Regina Hudson that he's contemplating settling down. But Trotter's new life is rudely interrupted when he learns that Soviet spies are bent on taking charge of the upcoming US presidential election. Their instrument is an influential senator, Hank Van Horn, a womanizing bad seed who - despite an upstanding reputation - once murdered one of his own staffers. And as if the election plot wasn't perilous enough, Van Horn's relentless son, Mark, soon gets involved in a very bloody way."

The Manx Murders

William L. DeAndrea

1992

A Professor Niccolo Benedetti novel.

"In Harville, Pennsylvania, two brothers are sparring. A common enough occurrence, but these ones happen to be elderly, twins, and industrialist millionaires. The two have feuded for years over all sorts of issues, including a woman they both loved. Now Henry Pembroke has built a bird sanctuary, while his twin brother, Clyde, has decided to breed Manx cats. Henry argues that Clyde's cats will kill his birds, and in an attempt for revenge, he blocks a new air-cleaning device that Clyde wants to produce. After nearly a lifetime of fighting, the brothers call on renowned Italian detective - and larger-than-life artist-philosopher - Niccolo Benedetti, together with private investigator partner Ron Gentry, to help solve their differences. But what begins as a property dispute takes a lethal turn when one of the brothers is kidnapped and a secretary is murdered. In this quiet town, Benedetti, a lifelong student of evil, suddenly has more than enough to study."

The Werewolf Murders

William L. DeAndrea

1993

A Professor Niccolo Benedetti novel.

"In this second installment in the Benedetti series, the detective travels to a ski resort in the French Alps, where a conference of international scientists is rocked by a series of killings. To make matters worse the prefect of police is also targeted, endangering the whole future of the conference, and the scientists claim that the perpetrator is nothing less than an honest-to-God, full moon -- intoxicated werewolf. Together with sidekicks Ron Gentry and Janet Higgins, Benedetti will have to dive headfirst into this supposedly supernatural case."

Killed in Fringe Time

William L. DeAndrea

1995

A Matt Cobb novel.

"In television production, 'fringe time' refers to the period after the late-night news before the morning shows begin -- the time when anything could happen. For Matt Cobb, a VP charged with getting 'The Network' out of jams, fringe time is especially fraught, because it's a time when one of his charges is seriously at risk. Cobb has had his hands full with Richard Bentyne, a volatile wee-hours talk-show host with more than one lover and many deserved enemies. And when Bentyne's dinner is laced with arsenic, there's no shortage of leads to investigate, and Cobb must do it quickly, with as little exposure to the network as possible. But while a betrayed girlfriends, jealous colleagues, or crazed fans might have the motive for murder, Cobb's gut instinct tells him that the answer lies somewhere on the fringe."

Written in Fire

William L. DeAndrea

1995

A Lobo Blacke/Quinn Booker novel.

"Quinn Booker turned his back on his father's West Point background and his mother's society upbringing to become a writer. Louis Bowman (Lobo) Blacke is the lawman Booker made famous in a series of biographies, a marshal - a man of action - who was backshot and must now get around in a wheelchair. With his share of the earnings from the books, Lobo bought a Wyoming newspaper, The Witness, and has dedicated his time to catching the man who crippled him. Frustrated by his loss of mobility, he connived Booker into giving up his Eastern creature comforts to come to Wyoming Territory to be his legs. Booker is barely off the train before murder tracks him into Le Four and Lobo begins telling him what to do and exactly how to do it. It doesn't take very long for Booker to learn that writing about catching criminals is one thing, but doing it is quite another. Why, a man could get killed unless he learns certain basics, like what to do in a gunfight. This certainly wasn't what Quinn Booker was raised to do, but working with Lobo Blacke is definitely what he was born to do."

Killed in the Fog

William L. DeAndrea

1996

A Matt Cobb novel.

"Matt Cobb is ready to quit. His job as a special projects VP at a giant television network involves intense troubleshooting and an egotistical boss, and both have taken their toll. The network president has other ideas, though, and persuades him that all he needs is a long vacation. So Cobb takes off for London, with his dog and his lovely fiancée, Roxanne, by his side. But work won't release its grip so easily, and when Cobb visits an old friend at a network affiliate, he can't resist a plea to help with their security team. And when he's directed to ignore the time-honored rule against the delivery of mysterious envelopes, Cobb becomes not only a witness to a murder, but also the prime suspect."

The Fatal Elixir

William L. DeAndrea

1997

A Lobo Blacke/Quinn Booker novel.

"In the Wyoming Territory town of Le Four, Lobo Blacke used to be a legendary lawman, until the day an ambush left him confined to a wheelchair. Now he runs a newspaper with onetime New Yorker Booker Quinn, who also helped pen the great man's memoirs. But now Le Four is shaken by rumors that Paul Muller - a bank and train robber whom Blacke helped lock up - might be headed back to town to settle old accounts. And the same week, fourteen people suddenly drop dead after sipping Ozono, a concoction sold by a traveling medicine show. The brew's casualties include the town's sheriff, and without him, Quinn and Blacke must prepare to face the fiendish Muller, and discover the connection between the elixir and the fugitive."

Murder: All Kinds

William L. DeAndrea

2003

"Murder - All Kinds (the author chose the title for his short-story collection) is a memorial to Bill DeAndrea's genius. Made up of all his known short stories in the mystery field, it includes 4 tales about Matt Cobb, a trouble-shooter for an unnamed television network, two adventures of Sherlock Holmes (one told in the 'voice' of Mickey Spillane), a re-telling of the fairy tale Prince Charming as a modern story of detection, a previously unpublished story of murder just before (or so everyone thinks) the world is about to be annihilated, and even a modern-day encounter with Victor Frankenstein's monstrous creation."

Encyclopedia Mysteriosa: A Comprehensive Guide to the Art of Detection in Print, Film, Radio, and Television

Editor: William L. DeAndrea

1994

"Containing more than 1,500 entries, this is a compendium to the many elements of the mystery story, from its history, themes, and subgenres to its authors and characters. Organized in an A-to-Z format with exaustive cross-referencing, this is the ultimate companion for fans of mystery."