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This page lists novels and story collections that feature the policeman Leroy Powder.

Night Cover

Michael Z. Lewin

1976

A Leroy Powder novel.

"Indianapolis police veteran, Lt. Leroy Powder, works nights. Every night. It suits him, not least because it keeps him away from the department's higher-ranks - the ones who are less concerned about doing things right than about advancing their careers. Powder's not popular with those types because he likes things to be done right. He's even ready to show other officers how to become better cops. Not that they always appreciate it. Powder's not a popular guy, but so what? Doing right by the citizens of Indy is what matters. It's one more average night in Indianapolis. Burglaries, assaults, a missing girl. And then someone reports a body, a man murdered with a distinctive MO. But why don't the daytime cops in Homicide work the case right? Well, they can't complain if Powder helps out on his own time, can they? And what's a private eye named Samson got to do with it all?"

Hard Line

Michael Z. Lewin

1982

A Leroy Powder novel.

"Lt. Leroy Powder has moved to the Missing Persons department after years on nights. What an opportunity to improve departmental procedures and provide a better service to the people of Indianapolis. If only the Indy Police Department would staff the place properly. Instead they send him a wheelchair-bound sergeant. OK, she's a public hero because she took a bullet for her partner and has refused to retire. So she's tough, but she's still on wheels. How does that qualify her to find a missing wife or identify a woman with amnesia? In Hard Line, winner of the 'Falcon' in Japan, Powder makes do. But he doesn't like it. And he doesn't have to be quiet about the way Missing Persons is being short-changed. And, meanwhile, a series of cases becomes more complicated than they first appear to be. As does Powder's relationship with his son."

Late Payments

Michael Z. Lewin

1986

A Leroy Powder novel.

"Lt. Leroy Powder is in charge of the Indianapolis Police's Missing Persons department. The job's what matters in Powder's life - doing it well, doing it right. He struggles when he finds that other officers don't care about their work the same way he does. Don't they want to become better cops? Still, Powder's reign in Missing Persons has seen the department expand and win praise. Which brings in more and more cases - even before his wheelchair-bound sergeant brings in a wheelchair-bound friend who has a conspiracy theory. Could someone really be killing hundreds of disabled people of Indiana? And if it's happening, why won't the cops upstairs take it seriously? It ought to be their problem. It's not like it's a missing persons' case. Not like the missing father of a twelve-year-old boy, or even that of the girl whose parents think she's being kept by a cult against her will. With rapid-fire dialogue, dry humour and plot twists that turn one step ahead of the reader, Late Payments proves again that Leroy Powder is one of the least endearing and most enjoyable police heroes around."

The Reluctant Detective

Michael Z. Lewin

2001

"The 21 crime tales in The Reluctant Detective and Other Stories range from the Edgar-nominated title story, to 2 investigations by "Danny" Quayle, to the 6 cases of the Lunghi detective agency and also include stories about Indiana police Lieutenant Leroy Powder (who is saddled with having to take a Japanese visitor on a night patrol), a hit man pretending to be interviewed by Dolly Parton, a detective named Rover who happens to be a dog literally."