Joan Merrill

Writer, Producer

Joan Merrill

Writer, Producer

AND ALL THAT MURDER COVER FINAL - Copy

When jazz singer Dee Jefferson asks her friend Casey McKie to investigate the death of a fellow jazz club owner, the San Francisco P.I. dives into the case. As more bodies are found, Casey realizes that a psychopath is targeting people in the jazz world. She fears Dee herself may be in the killer's crosshairs.
As Casey becomes embroiled in the increasingly complex case, she travels from San Francisco's Chinatown and North Beach to the gay community in Palm Springs to the Pacific Northwest. The quest culminates in a harrowing confrontation with the deadly maniac who is bent on killing her.

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and-all-that-sea-cover-big

Casey's relaxing Caribbean jazz cruise is interrupted when The Countess goes missing and the captain asks her to investigate... quietly. All Casey wanted was to sit on the deck reading novels and possibly pursue her attraction to Aaron, an intriguing jazz magazine editor. But she can't resist a mystery, especially when homicide might be involved.
Ship authorities believe the countess simply overstayed an island stop, but Casey suspects something a bit more sinister. She uncovers several passengers with motives for murdering the wealthy woman
The tenacious PI follows clues stretching from the seedy underbelly of Saigon to the luxurious ports of the Caribbean, the mystery's final resolution stunning even the seasoned investigator.

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STALKING HI RES

When a woman is found murdered, San Francisco PI Casey McKie takes the case as a favor to her friend Dee Jefferson, who wants Casey to prove the man accused of the crime is innocent.
Casey discovers the crime scene is free of forensic evidence and figures it’s the work of an experienced killer. More murders with the same MO prove her hunch correct.
Since all the victims were young singers, Casey concludes the killer is someone from the jazz community. Is it Tony, the womanizing owner of a club where they all sang? Or songwriter Bernie Silvers, who pestered them to perform his tunes? Or is it actually Greg, who has a history of violence?
After a string of dead ends, Casey is forced to use a singer as bait to catch the killer.

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MADNESS COVER HI RES

When the New York Jazz Society acquires a fifty-year old letter from Georgia Valentine, questions arise over the legendary vocalist's death. Did she give herself a fatal dose of heroin, as the original investigators ruled, or did someone kill her? And if it was murder, what was the motive? Casey moves her operation from San Francisco to New York to investigate the cold case, questioning Georgia's musician friends, her widower, a drug dealer, a Broadway actress, a mafia boss, and the authorities who declared the death a suicide.
This quest takes Casey to New York's most venerable jazz clubs, a Harlem nursing home, a mob-owned Italian restaurant, a lesbian bar, and One Police Plaza, home of the NYPD. She joins forces with an attractive detective, and, as the case progresses, so does their relationship. With no shortage of suspects, Casey ultimately uncovers the surprising truth.

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AndAllThatMotiveByJoanMerrill.

When America's top male jazz singer, Sid Satin, is found dead in his dressing room at the Pacific Coast Jazz Festival, police set their sights on Dee Jefferson. She and Sid had a blow-up with Satin and they believe her gun is the murder weapon. To remove suspicion from her singer friend, San Francisco PI Casey McKie sets out to find the killer.
In delving into Satin's life, Casey finds a number of people who'd like to see him dead - his ex-wife, ex-girlfriends, his agent, a producer, and a rival male vocalist. As Casey accumulates evidence, the suspect list gets shorter, until, in a climactic scene, the culprit's identity is revealed, surprising even Casey.

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