John Gaspard Books In Order

Publication Order of The Como Lake Players Mystery Books

Publication Order of Eli Marks Mystery Books

Publication Order of Eli Marks Collections

Publication Order of Greyhound Classics Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

John Gaspard, screenwriter, blogger and author was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. John still lives in Minneapolis, sharing his house with many dogs, some cats, his wonderful wife, and some pet allergies. He has also directed some low budget feature films that made even less money. The books that he has written on low budget film making have ironically earned him more than the actual films he has made.

John Gaspard writes the “Eli Marks Mystery” series, which began being published in the year 2013, with the release of “The Ambitious Card”. His blog was named one of the best blogs for movie makers and for students of film and theater. He has written for television as well as the stage.

“The Ambitious Card” is the first novel in the “Eli Marks Mystery” series and was released in the year 2013. Life as a magician is not card tricks and kid shows like you might think. It can be murder at times. Like when Eli Marks debunks a prominent psychic in public, and the psychic winds up dead. Evidence at hand for the police, includes a playing (the King of Diamonds) that has blood on it, and it is from the Ambitious Card trick that Eli does, and it sends the cops to Eli.

More psychics get killed, and there are more Kings rising right to the top, making Eli more and more likely to be a killer. His romance blooms with a gorgeous psychic, and Eli realizes that she is the next victim, and he is supposed to die right along with her. He has to use every trick that he knows so that they will stay alive, and he can reveal who the actual killer is.

Fans of the novel found this to be quite funny, so much so, it made them cry they laughed that hard. The plot twists and turns and some could not figure out just who the killer was before it was revealed. The book has quite a bit of action and descriptive metaphor serve to keep the mystery moving quickly. Here is a story that is also fun and original. Some felt that they were curious about the other books in the series.

“The Bullet Catch” is the second novel in the “Eli Marks Mystery” series and was released in the year 2014. Eli Marks, recently single, goes to his high school reunion reluctantly against some better judgment. He winds up entangled in not one but two fatal encounters with ex-classmates of his. A crush of Eli’s husband gets killed after being mugged, and then that is followed by the business associates of the victim getting killed under suspicious circumstances.

During this, Eli comes to a classmate’s aid, one that is now a movie star, who fears that trying The Bullet Catch in one of the films he is working on might end his career. Bodies start to pile up, and Eli finds that keeping up with these killer situations, while saving himself, could just be the best trick he has ever tried to pull off.

Fans of the novel found that this one exceeded their expectations on what they believed the book would be. The plot kept readers guessing and the characters were developed well. Some were engaged right from the start of the book, in part by the dialogue and action. Eli is a totally likable hero that you are sympathetic to, but is not perfect.

“The Miser’s Dream” is the third novel in the “Eli Marks Mystery” series and was released in the year 2015. A simple glance out the window turns Eli Marks’ (who is a Magician) life on its head. He sees the corpse in a projection booth of the theater right next door. It pulls him into a hunt for a killer. He tries to figure out the solution to this locked room mystery, he has to deal with a more personal crisis. It comes to him in the form of a rival that shows up; this man threatens both the relationship he has with his girlfriend but his faith in himself as a magician.

The killer is not just going to wait around for him and begins to take killer steps to quickly end the case that Eli has. It starts to get worse when his own rival offers up a solution to the mystery that seems to work. All of the weird suspects are gathered to a meeting, and Eli has to reveal all of the secrets or be at the wrong side of this trick.

Fans of the novel enjoyed the way the story uses a locked room mystery, and were surprised about who the killer was by the end. It has a fun cast of characters, each of whom are eccentric. The simple fact that Eli is a magician sets him apart from the other amateur sleuths that are out there in fiction.

“The Linking Rings” is the fourth novel in the “Eli Marks Mystery” series and was released in the year 2016. Eli heads off to London to be with uncle Harry, and it turns homicidal, as Harry (who is also a magician) is accused of killing of someone. His uncle cannot possibly have killed anyone.

Another killing does nothing to take suspicion’s spotlight off of Harry. It is pretty obvious that somebody is killing off the elderly peers of Harry in some oddly effective ways. Who could it be? What was odd gets more odd when the number one suspect is someone said to have killed themselves more than three decades back. It was a bitter performer, hanging on to a grudge.

Eli is caught in a battle too, while trying to clear his uncle’s name and make sure they do not end up dead themselves. Another largely popular magician has ripped off one of his favorite magic routines.

Fans of the novel found the twists and turns to the story once again hold the attention of the reader all the way through. And even though some readers could figure out just who the killer was, the ending still was able to surprise them quite a bit. This is a stellar series, one that readers do not want to see end anytime soon.