Mike Bowen's Locked Room

          I don't write mysteries about professional crime solvers. Just ordinary people (well, really smart ordinary people) who would like to live undramatic lives but stumble over corpses now and then and decide to do something about it. In his famous essay "Murder Is My Business," Raymond Chandler scoffed at such amateur antics. He said that murder is the business of professionals on mean streets, pursued relentlessly by men neither tarnished nor afraid.
        Well, not all streets are mean. Some are pleasant and sunlit and lined with leafy green trees. And on those streets lies evil just as implacable and just as deadly as anything Phillip Marlowe ran into at the intersection of Pier Street and Noon in Bay City. Down those streets go men and women who are tarnished and who are afraid - and who do it anyway. Those are the people I write about.

        Okay, that's what I write. Click on the tabs above for what I've written. Click here for why I write mysteries.

Here are some of the things critics have said about my mysteries over the years:

“Readers... will enjoy this romp through the halls of academe, where the battles are so bitter because the stakes are so small. Fast moving and funny..”
        -Booklist

“Intellectual banter remains the key appeal in this third entry in the Rep and Melissa Pennyworth series…Clean plotting, combined with the marital repartee, makes this a solid winner.”
        -Booklist

"Bowen writes with knowledge and wit, tongue in cheek or rudely protruding. His cat-and-mouse corporate thriller zips merrily to a high-speed conclusion."
        -Publishers Weekly

"...this is the cleverest whodunit of the season, wrapped up in the cleverest dialogue."
        -Kirkus Review

"...Worst Case Scenario is an old-fashioned locked-door murder mystery filled with dry wit and shrewd deduction."
-Entertainment Weekly

"...Bowen seems to have the real stuff. He's funny and cynical and is capable of conjuring up a credible scenario."
        -Los Angeles Times

“Nicely detailed, intriguing tale…Bowen gives readers a highly satisfying peek at the machinations of bureaucratic Washington.”
        -Publishers Weekly

“Bowen…writes with such swift and cynical humor that you are sure to be entertained.”
        -Washington Post Book World

“Bright and funny…Who says they don’t make them like this anymore?”
        -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Bowen lays out the narrative and sprinkles the clues with a painstaking precision of detail that recalls early Ellery Queen novels.”
-Chicago Sun-Times

“Agressively witty…Ingenious, well-paced, and inventively clued…A welcome entry in the field.”
-Kirkus Reviews





		I don't write mysteries about professional crime solvers. Just ordinary people (well, really smart ordinary people) who would like to live undramatic lives but stumble over corpses now and then and decide to do something about it. In his famous essay "Murder Is My Business," Raymond Chandler scoffed at such amateur antics. He said that murder is the business of professionals on mean streets, pursued relentlessly by men neither tarnished nor afraid. Well, not all streets are mean. Some are pleasant and sunlit and lined with leafy green trees. And on those streets lies evil just as implacable and just as deadly as anything Phillip Marlowe ran into at the intersection of Pier Street and Noon in Bay City. Down those streets go men and women who are tarnished and who are afraid - and who do it anyway. Those are the people I write about. Okay, that's what I write. Click on the tabs above for what I've written. Click here for why I write mysteries. Here are some of the things critics have said about my mysteries over the years: “Readers... will enjoy this romp through the halls of academe, where the battles are so bitter because the stakes are so small. Fast moving and funny..” -Booklist “Intellectual banter remains the key appeal in this third entry in the Rep and Melissa Pennyworth series…Clean plotting, combined with the marital repartee, makes this a solid winner.” -Booklist "Bowen writes with knowledge and wit, tongue in cheek or rudely protruding. His cat-and-mouse corporate thriller zips merrily to a high-speed conclusion." -Publishers Weekly "...this is the cleverest whodunit of the season, wrapped up in the cleverest dialogue." -Kirkus Review "...Worst Case Scenario is an old-fashioned locked-door murder mystery filled with dry wit and shrewd deduction." -Entertainment Weekly "...Bowen seems to have the real stuff. He's funny and cynical and is capable of conjuring up a credible scenario." -Los Angeles Times “Nicely detailed, intriguing tale…Bowen gives readers a highly satisfying peek at the machinations of bureaucratic Washington.” -Publishers Weekly “Bowen…writes with such swift and cynical humor that you are sure to be entertained.” -Washington Post Book World “Bright and funny…Who says they don’t make them like this anymore?” -Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Bowen lays out the narrative and sprinkles the clues with a painstaking precision of detail that recalls early Ellery Queen novels.” -Chicago Sun-Times “Agressively witty…Ingenious, well-paced, and inventively clued…A welcome entry in the field.” -Kirkus Reviews Also, my mom likes them. Mike Bowen					*THE NEWEST REP-AND-MELISSA STORY* Published October, 2008 "Milwaukee copyright attorney Rep Pennyworth's fourth case begins with piracy on Lake Michigan and rapidly gets crazier .... As usual in this waggish series, you'll need a scorecard to follow the cascading complications. But Bowen's powers of invention are so florid and his satirical touch so bright that most readers won't care who gets carted off to jail." Kirkus Reviews www.poisonedpenpress.com ISBN 978-1-59058-529-0 (Hardcover) $24.95 ISBN 978-1-59058-530-6 (Large Type Trade Paperback) $22.95