James W Ziskin Books in Order

In 1960 New York, Ellie Stone investigates an attack on her estranged father that police dismiss as a burglary. Another attempt on his life and a professor’s death draw her into Columbia University’s academic rivalries while she seeks reconciliation with him.

Reporter Ellie Stone sees a chance to revive her career when a young society woman is found dead near New Holland. Her investigation exposes small-town secrets and university grudges, provoking people determined to stop her from discovering the killer.

Fifteen-year-old Darleen Hicks disappears from her school bus shortly before Christmas in 1960. When police dismiss her as a runaway, her desperate mother turns to reporter Ellie Stone, whose questions about the missing teenager draw increasingly dangerous resistance.

Ellie Stone’s Adirondack holiday is interrupted when two apparently unconnected men fall to their deaths near a diving pool. Questioning the appearance of an accident, she investigates intellectuals, evangelicals, old resentments, and betrayals that also put her own heart at risk.

Sent to Hollywood to profile hometown actor Tony Eberle, Ellie Stone discovers he has vanished and a movie producer has been murdered. Searching for Tony draws her through ambitious performers and protected reputations as she tries to separate secrets from lies.

A suspicious barn fire at an abandoned stud farm reveals two bodies and evidence of murder. Reporter Ellie Stone follows the clues into Saratoga Springs’ horse-racing world, where gambling, old failures, and betrayal may explain the deadly blaze.

Visiting Florence to accept an award honoring her late father, Ellie Stone spends a quarantined weekend with academic acquaintances. Their convivial storytelling turns sinister when the symposium’s organizer is found dead in the Arno, prompting questions about her new companions.

American journalist Danny Jacobs arrives in Bombay during India’s 1975 Emergency and befriends an expat with troubling connections. Falling for his neighbor’s lover Sushmita draws Danny into an increasingly dangerous mix of political unrest, murder, divided loyalties, and betrayal.