Snow on the Roof

Murder Mystery! Detective series! Crime-drama!

And a little touch or two of romance, too.

Homicide Detective Lyle Odell returns once again.

However, this time it is for his final adventure.

In this final case for Detective Lyle Odell, we find the genius detective much older now, trying hard to stay sober and quit cigarettes, and in a new position that makes him feel as if the higher ups have given him an easy role to cruise into retirement with.

As Odell describes it, "They put me out to pasture or on display like an old museum piece."

Having received the prestigious promotion to the rank of Police Inspector, Odell is now operating solo on his investigations and almost in a consultant role. Odell does not even answer to the normal chain of command; instead, he reports to the city police commissioner and the board of commissioners.

His old elite police team has moved on, or retired, or are busy operating within their own careers. His loyal best friend and partner, George Grundy, is now retired and living his retirement dream of owning and operating what had been Odell and Grundy's favorite bar and grille in downtown Mohawk City in upstate New York. Even one of Odell and Grundy's best friends, Christina-Fuentes Colombo, has moved away when her husband took a job promotion to another city, and now they have a newborn baby and little time for the friendship. It was a different life for Odell, and one that he was struggling to accept.

Inspector Odell is just plain bored, and he dislikes his new role so much he insists that people refer to him as Detective Odell or just plain Odell.

That all changes when Odell reads a routine newspaper article in the business section of the local newspaper about the recent death of Mr. Randolph Burgess. Mr. Burgess was the CEO of the prestigious Standard Insurance Company. Another interesting aspect of the article was the recent relocation and the construction of Standard Insurance's sparkling new corporate headquarters and campus right there in an old factory district in Mohawk City, New York. It changes even more when he meets the acting CEO of the Standard Insurance Company, the half-sister of Mr. Randolph Burgess. Doctor Eleanor Burgess is stunningly gorgeous and of superior intelligence, and immediately, romantic sparks fly between Lyle Odell and Eleanor! And what Doctor Burgess knows and tells sets the bar of intrigue even higher for Detective Lyle Odell.

This simple newspaper article sets Odell off on one of the most complex and dangerous cases of his career as the good detective digs in deeper and deeper and finds a web of murder, blackmail, corporate deceit, and intrigue that runs deep and wide. In a case that crosses all the way from Mohawk City in upstate New York to Boston, Massachusetts.

Along the way, Odell manages to take on a former military sniper in a daring daylight gun-battle, save the life of a woman he has fallen in love with, and he sparks the interest of another gorgeous young woman, too.

The final case of Detective Lyle Odell brings the good detective full circle, and it ends where it began, with the character's introduction in the novel O'Malley. A novel that gave birth to one of the most popular characters of all in the long list of characters from Paul John Hausleben.

As Odell finally rides off into the sunset and ends his long and storied career, this amazing story and novel proves once again why his creator earned the title of "The Master Storyteller."