On this page

This page lists novels that feature the Sarasota based private investigator Lew Fonesca.

Vengeance

Stuart M. Kaminsky

1999

A Lew Fonesca novel.

"Three years ago Lew Fonseca quit his job as a process server with the State Attourney's Office in Cook County, Illinois, and drove his rattling Toyota south to escape the memories of his beloved late wife. Headed for Key West, the Toyota broke down in a Dairy Queen parking lot in Sarasota, Florida. Buoyed by the friendship of a few trustworthy souls, Lew settled there, making ends meet by doing some investigative work for local attourneys. Now, Lew is hired by Carl Sebastian, one of Lew's lawyer's clients, to find his missing wife. Following up on a few leads, Lew finds himself being trailed by a mysterious burly man, and saddled with another missing person case -- this time a runaway teen. With the help of some friends, Lew seems to be getting closer and closer to Melanie -- but will he find her before the unthinkable happens?"

Retribution

Stuart M. Kaminsky

2001

A Lew Fonesca novel.

"Lew Fonesca now makes his way amid bail jumpers and lost wives, people who want to be found and those who will do anything to stay under their rock. He spends his days solving cases both big and small and trying to get by, while attempting to figure out how to make the rest of his life make sense ..... he saved a young runaway who has had a childhood nobody should ever have, and she finally seems to be turning her life around. But when she becomes involved with a reclusive best selling author and several valuable manuscripts disappear, Lew knows that young Melanie is in way over her head. And if he doesn't act fast, not only could a few reputations get tarnished - the bodies might start piling up."

Midnight Pass

Stuart M. Kaminsky

2003

A Lew Fonesca novel.

"But for a man who just wants to ease through life without any complications, Lew has a pretty full plate. The shrink that Lew's been seeing for more than a year wants him to finally dump all the grief that he's carrying around so he can have more than a half-life. And Sally, the pretty single mom and social worker who has helped Lew in the past, wants to deepen their friendship. On top of that, a local minister asks him to find a town council member who has gone missing just before a crucial vote that could ruin a struggling community, and a distraught father comes to Lew to track down his wife and two kids, whom Lew suspects ran off with the man's best friend. When people start showing up dead, Lew knows he's in way over his head - and this time he may not be able make it all come out okay."

Denial

Stuart M. Kaminsky

2005

A Lew Fonesca novel.

"Lew Fonesca is a man who does things for people. He makes small problems go away and tries to keep the larger ones from landing his clients in jail. He finds deadbeats, errant spouses, and generally keeps the populace of Sarasota on the up and up. Now Lew is faced with one case that will try his patience...and another that may break his heart. The first involves an elderly woman who swears she's witnessed a murder in her old age home despite the fact that everyone she tells her story to tell her that it just couldn't have happened. The other has Lew trying to find out the identity of a hit and run driver who killed a 14 year old boy. As Lew begins to dig deeper into both cases he finds that they are tied together in ways he can't hope to untangle. And when someone tries to run him down, Lew knows that he's getting close to some nasty home truths and he is going to have get the answers if he is to survive."

Always Say Goodbye

Stuart M. Kaminsky

2006

A Lew Fonesca novel.

"Lew Fonesca’s wife Catherine was struck and killed in a hit-and-run. Grief-stricken, he fled Chicago and wound up in Sarasota, Florida where he’s made a living as a process server. Four years on, he's still savoring his depression like fine wine, and his therapist - and sparring partner - has had enough. It's time, she tells Lew, to get on with his life. Time to go back to Chicago and find out what really happened to his wife. Lew hates to admit it, but Ann Horowitz might be right. Even if it kills him, he has to know the truth about his wife's death. So he returns to his home, his family, his friends - and a mystery. He's resolved to dig until he finds out who killed his wife. In doing so, he'll uncover both sweet and painful memories of his past. He'll also confront a murderer who'll not hesitate to kill again to make sure hidden secrets stay buried."

Bright Futures

Stuart M. Kaminsky

2009

A Lew Fonesca novel.

"A local curmudgeon who has been campaigning to end state-sponsored school funding is brutally killed. The accused, a recent graduate of a public high school for the gifted, turns to Lew for help. A semiretired and much beloved performer of children's songs is being anonymously threatened with exposure as a sexual predator. He turns to Lew to find out who is behind this false accusation. As Lew works on these baffling cases, he slowly comes to realize that somewhere along the way he has managed to pick up what looks like the beginning of a new life: people who care about him, people whom, he grudgingly admits, he is beginning to care about. But the good life that Lew so richly deserves might disappear when he's forced to come to a hard choice - do the right thing and see his happiness evaporate, or betray a trust and be happy."