Bob's Bookcase
Fork In The Road
 Welcome to Fork, a community with a weed-infested street and a snow plow, where men gather at Absalom's Tavern to tell occasionally true tall tales, where the high-minded Historical Society meets across the street at Rosemary's Delmonico Diner to plot against the tavern and its customers, where a variety of characters produce belly laughs with their schemes, were fumbling handyman Daniel Owens courts the beautiful but soiled Rosemary, and were a murderer thinks he's (or was it a she?) going to get away with it. For a change, there is plenty to talk about in Fork, a nowhere prairie town. The unsolved murder of exotic stranger Francesca Evans becomes the main topic until Daniel Owens plows six feet of snow onto the road commissioners' driveway. And then a guy digs up the outhouse on Ezra Brigg's farm and won't say why. Or the time Hester DeWitt, the town's self-appointed conscience, gets drunk on elderberry wine while trying to close the only tavern in town. There are other distractions, like Daniel's courting of sexy Rosemary Allen until he realizes she is the whore who taught him about sex. And John Turner, the stranger who has some kind of power over Rosemary, announces plans to develop the town. After a deputy sheriff is charged with the murder Turner builds a golf course, and Daniel stops trying to resist the lure of Rosemary's body. The town isn't the only fork in the road, just about everybody's life is about to come to one. Click here to buy the book. And read Chapter One

And The Band Played On

When the old man Laura Marsh is nursing dies, he leaves her his house, a small lake and a mysterious old cabin in the woods. A few days later, Laura observes a handsome stranger swimming naked in the lake. The next day, as she is watching to see if the stranger will return, she discovers the body of a naked young woman on the shore of the lake. The naked stranger becomes a suspect, the young police officer who investigates becomes a suitor and a Chicago news reporter seduces Laura.

Laura and a close friend stick their noses into the investigation and soon Laura realizes someone is intent on murdering her. She falls for the reporter, he leaves, the murderer invades Laura's house while she sleeps and...

Click here to buy the book. And read Chapter One

When Vicki Fowler's body is found covered with bee stings in a Central Illinois pasture the sheriff calls her death an accident. Free-lance reporter and private detective Nick Bancroft doesn't believe it. He learns the victim lived in a home for young unwed mothers who work as waitresses and whores at a local nightclub. Murder suspects include an alcoholic handy man, the man and wife who operate the home, a nightclub operator and his henchman, and a sheriff's deputy. Federal agents on the trail of an international porno ring try to halt Nick's investigation. Nick is beaten and thrown in a ditch. Later he and his earthy lover, Maggie Atley, are dumped in a deep lake with weights tied to their ankles.

The Nick Bancroft Mysteries are "power packed ... draw the reader into the story from the opening line and hold the attention to the surprising end. Peopled with fascinating, credible characters," raves Holly Martin in Black Dragon Reviews. "Bob Liter's detective novels are full of "twists and turns. A real Loo-Loo!" says Detra Fitch in Huntress Book Reviews. Click here to buy the book. And read Chapter One

Death Sting

Murder Inherited

When the old man Laura Marsh is nursing dies, he leaves her his house, a small lake and a mysterious old cabin in the woods. A few days later, Laura observes a handsome stranger swimming naked in the lake. The next day, as she is watching to see if the stranger will return, she discovers the body of a naked young woman on the shore of the lake. The naked stranger becomes a suspect, the young police officer who investigates becomes a suitor and a Chicago news reporter seduces Laura.

Laura and a close friend stick their noses into the investigation and soon Laura realizes someone is intent on murdering her. She falls for the reporter, he leaves, the murderer invades Laura's house while she sleeps and...

Click here to buy the book. And read Chapter One


When a sexy nudist hires him to protect her from whoever is threatening her life, Nick Bancroft becomes the target. Someone tries to burn him alive, beats the hell out of him and, since that didn't run him off, uses him for target practice.

Meanwhile, two people are murdered, Nick's true love, Maggie Atley, is more than somewhat perturbed by his relationship with his client, and a mysterious club seems to hold the answer. Nick survives another losing season by his beloved Chicago Cubs, a vicious attack by a couple of huge dogs and eventually puts the finger on the bad guys. Click here to buy the book. And read Chapter One

August is Murder

Rainy-Day Lover

When the old man Laura Marsh is nursing dies, he leaves her his house, a small lake and a mysterious old cabin in the woods. A few days later, Laura observes a handsome stranger swimming naked in the lake. The next day, as she is watching to see if the stranger will return, she discovers the body of a naked young woman on the shore of the lake. The naked stranger becomes a suspect, the young police officer who investigates becomes a suitor and a Chicago news reporter seduces Laura.

Laura and a close friend stick their noses into the investigation and soon Laura realizes someone is intent on murdering her. She falls for the reporter, he leaves, the murderer invades Laura's house while she sleeps and...

Click here to buy the book. And read Chapter One

The body of a young woman with a sex etiquette book in her lap is found at a high school football stadium. Freelance reporter Nick Bancroft is kicked around by various suspects as he pursues the story. His stormy love affair with Maggie Atley is flamed by passes made by visiting detective Faustine Smith. Few things are as they seem, Nick discovers, in this sex-laced adventure. Click here to buy the book. And read Chapter One

Murder By The Book

A Point of Murder

Nick Bancroft uncovers a web of corruption when his young protégé is gruesomely murdered. Bancroft, a Chicago journalist, has returned to his hometown, Central City, Illinois. His peaceful, nonproductive existence is disrupted by his stormy love affair with Maggie Atley.

Add to that the life-threatening complications that follow when Bobby Scalf's body is found in an alley with a spike in the temple. Nick becomes a suspect when the second murder victim is found in the abandoned building where the boy lived.

Before he nails the killer, Nick discovers a conspiracy that includes the town council, the school board, the police chief and the local newspaper publisher. Click here to buy the book. And read Chapter One
He becomes a successful Chicago stock broker after overcoming humiliation, poverty and his mother's reputation. His intimate relationship with publicity-hungry model, Dorrie Davies, ends in disaster when she files rape and fraud charges against him. His reputation is ruined even though charges are dropped.

He returns to Duncan in Central Illinois, his hometown, to seek revenge for the humiliation the town heaped on him and his mother when he was young. He gets a job as yard man for Mrs. Elizabeth Ainsworth and her daughter, Allie. As a child, Dan delivered his mother's ironing to Mrs. Ainsworth and was humiliated by them.

Two of Allie's suitors attack him and discover he has learned to defend himself and that it is no longer safe to deride him by calling him "Danny Boy." Click here to buy the book. And read Chapter One

Danny Boy