I'm happy to announce that Book 5 in the award-winning Winston Radhauser mystery series was released in January 16, 2019. I was so busy working on Book #6 that I'm late with this blog.  Sorry.

​In many ways, this is my personal favorite of the Radhauser series. .  Book Description: When Parker Collins, a gifted creative writing student at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, fails to show up for the first day of fall classes, his frantic girlfriend, Rishima Reynolds, files a missing person’s report. Though Parker has a history of alcohol abuse, disorderly conduct, and truancy, she insists he is committed to his writing classes. Rishima is adamant that something is very wrong. 
 
Persuaded by the depth of her concern, Radhauser drives up to a cabin at Sunset Lake where Parker spent the last month finishing a novel his professor claims will be brilliant. The cabin has been trashed—the padlock on the liquor cabinet cut and empty beer and alcohol bottles strewn around the kitchen. A boat is missing. It appears wild-child Parker has gone on a binge and taken the boat out on the lake. Radhauser assures Rishima her boyfriend will turn up eventually, probably cold and nursing a gigantic headache. But something about the cabin scene nags at the detective and won’t let him go. 
 
The following morning, 72-year old Homer Sullivan, one of the few year-round residents at the lake, finds a bloated body floating face-down near his cottage. He phones Radhauser, terrified it could be Parker Collins—the boy Sully befriended and has come to love. Is Radhauser’s missing person’s case a tragic accident? Or something much worse?  
 
What Readers Are Saying:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
January 18, 2019
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
Susan Clayton- Goldner gives us another riveting mystery in the Radhauser mystery.
She shows us the story of a young woman's struggle with her trans gender identity and the young author that loved her.
I loved the beautiful storyline and the multi faceted characters.
This book is recommended for those who love thrillers.
I eagerly await her next book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
January 27, 2019
Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase
Again Susan has written an excellent worthwhile book in her Winston Radhauser Mystery series. Difficult to put down when started to read. Have been reading and reviewing her books from the very beginning and she continues to write great books that are thoroughly well written, interesting, and researched. I have enjoyed every one.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

January 16, 2019
Format: Kindle Edition
Detective Winston Radhauser is back on the case. Rishima Reynolds, who was introduced in "River of Shame," comes to him asking for help to find her boyfriend, who has failed to return from a writing retreat. Soon Radhouser is involved in a murder case that seems to have both too many motives, and not enough.

As with the previous books in the Winston Radhauser series, this is part mystery, part family drama, part social commentary. A major part of the plot is the fact that Rishima is transgender, and the interactions between her and the other characters. Some readers are likely to enjoy that aspect of the story, and some won't, so prospective readers should keep that in mind. It certainly adds a unique element to the story, as rather than being a side show to the story, Rishima is made a central character, one of almost angelically fragile beauty and goodness.

Family ties, and the heartbreak that comes with their dissolution, are another major theme in the work, and it is here that the writing particularly shines, combining lyricism and heartfelt sincerity. In fact, perhaps the most unique feature of "Lake of the Dead" and the entire series is its warm wholesomeness, in distinct contrast to much of crime fiction. I wouldn't name it a "cozy" mystery, as it treats dark themes with more gravity than most cozy mysteries, but it has the focus on family and small-town life that sets "cozier" mysteries apart from their gritty or hardboiled cousins. "Lake of the Dead" is enough of a murder mystery that it is likely to appeal to mystery fans, but it should also appeal to readers of family novels and socially-conscious literary fiction as well.
You may get a copy by clicking on the Cover below: