Steven Helmer Publications

Synopsis: A forgotten-about cistern located in the roof of Bascom Hall at the University of Wisconsin-Madison causes a flood and reveals the skeleton of a long-hidden body and a visiting art professor, Nora Barnes, finds herself helping with the investigation, even after her own life is threatened. Her husband, Toby Sandler, also takes an interest in the case but is more interested in finding lost architectural plans drafted by Frank Lloyd Wright. Review: I didn't plan ahead when I went to the library last week and, with nothing on hold and no books on top of my list, I wandered the stacks looking for anything that caught my eye. The Bones of Bascom Hall wound up being one of the books I checked out, primarily because it takes place in a city I frequently visit and I liked the idea of a murder mystery in a familiar setting. I finished the book this morning and would describe it as OK. I liked the mystery surrounding the discovered body because it added some challenges that were u...

  This is a sequel to Murder by Chili I've been working on for some time now and it stars the detective from that book, Maxwell V. Diamond. I decided to publish this book on Kindle Vella, which is a platform on Amazon that lets me publish the story in "episodes" rather than all at once. I've never tried this platform before so it's definitely a new experience for me. My hope is, depending on how successful this murder mystery is, I can add other stories as additional episodes down the road. The first four chapters are already published and can be read here:  The Body at Belmount Manor | Kindle Vella (amazon.com)