Susan Kandel Books In Order

Publication Order of A Cece Caruso Mystery Books

Publication Order of Dreama Black Books

Susan Kandel
Susan Kandel is a Southern California native. She was an art critic at the Los Angeles Times for much of the 90s, having been trained as an art historian. She also taught at UCLA and NYU, and served as the editor of the international journal artext.

Then one morning she woke up and decided she wanted to become a mystery writer.

How many of her character Cece’s quirks are based on Susan’s own is a question which remains up for grabs. However Susan (but not Cece) will admit that she’d never, no matter what, give up her two, early 80s Yves Saint Laurent worsted wool jumpsuits.

Susan feels lucky she gets to write full time. First, there’s the chance to make your own schedule, if you’re a morning person, you can write in the mornings, or if you’re a night owl, that’s your time to write, and if you are on some deadline, you can write around the clock, which is not quite as much fun as it sounds. The best thing is the freedom to experiment, use your imagination, indulge your whimsy, and, obviously, punish your enemies by murdering them. On the page, obviously.

“I Dreamed I Married Perry Mason” is the first novel in the “Cece Caruso Mystery” series and was released in 2004. It all began with a case of writer’s block. Cece Caruso (vivacious and pretty) turned to a life of crime after she got divorced. However she is neither running cons nor breaking and entering. But instead, she is writing up these biographies about famous crime novelists, and now it is Erle Stanley Gardner’s turn under Cece’s magnifying glass.

Even though Perry Mason’s creator had quite an exciting life, including his own personal share of courtroom dramatics as an attorney, it was his Court of Last Resort which most fascinated Cece. The Court of Last Resort was this place where those that got wrongly convicted could actually petition Gardner to find proper proof to reopen their cases. Cece was researching the Court in hopes that it would give her enough material to propel her through her through her unfinished chapters. In one last ditch effort to procrastinate, while she pretends to work, she goes and visits this elderly prison inmate whose desperate appeal she finds unexplored and misfiled among all of the otherwise meticulously organized files of the Erle Stanley Gardner Archives.

From there, it is a rather short step to working on the long-neglected case, merely to get a feel for what Gardner would so often do. That is the first step down a slippery slope which soon pulls her into this case that got closed 40 years ago, when this man got sent to jail for murdering his wife. And this cold case all of a sudden turns hot when this murdered woman’s sister gets knifed right after Cece interviews her. Inspired by the thought of having Perry Mason right by her side while she quests for justice, ex beauty queen Cece straightens her stocking seams (since she’s a vintage clothing buff) and sets out to untangle mysteries, solve two murders, and even complete her manuscript on time.

“Not a Girl Detective” is the second novel in the “Cece Caruso Mystery” series and was released in 2005. There is nothing Cece cherishes more than her childhood memories of Nancy Drew, besides her beloved collection of vintage designer clothing, of course. Her near obsession with the fictional teen sleuth led her to becoming a professional biographer of classic mystery writers. Now that she has been working on this book about “Carolyn Keene”, Nancy’s pseudonymous creator, so Cece’s in heaven.

At the LA home of some other rabid Drew-phile, she finds this treasure trove of useful memorabilia, including this one unique and kinda shocking collectible. Later on, she discovers a dead body, and this puzzle which would sorely test the skills of her spunky girlhood heroine. Now she must channel her former idol and unmask this murderer, and this killer might just be coming for Cece next.

“Shamus in the Green Room” is the third novel in the “Cece Caruso Mystery” series and was released in 2006. Cece’s thrilled her biography about Dashiell Hammett is headed for the big screen. Rafe Simic (cast in the lead role) might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, however the money she’ll make teaching him the ABCs of The Thin Man and The Maltese Falcon should be good enough to feed her addiction to vintage Yves St. Laurent.

However when the corpse of one of Rafe’s old flames is found, and neither the “facts” nor the hunky star’s alibi quite add up, Cece can’t help but ask questions. But the twists in this case would even confound Sam Spade himself. In her zeal to win some justice for the deceased, she may wind up pulling the plug on this movie, assuming somebody doesn’t pull the plug on Cece first.

“Dream a Little Death” is the first novel in the “Dreama Black” series and was released in 2017. Dreama Black is nearly famous. The daughter (and granddaughter) of some groupies that captivated LA’s largest rock stars and muse to Luke Cutt, her own Grammy winning ex-boyfriend. Dreama appears to be doomed to stay on the periphery of stardom.

All of that changes once Dreama gets hired by Miles McCoy (a record producer) to arrange this epic wedding celebration for Maya Duran, his beautiful fiancee. The party’s theme is a noir style tour through LA’s more infamous locations and some hidden gems. It seems to be Dreama’s big break, up until Maya gets rushed to the hospital with a self-inflicted bullet wound. The cops and everybody involved just assume that this is an attempted suicide, however Dreama is unconvinced.

For starters, how did the weapon just disappear? Why has Maya been using two different names? Then there is the mysterious check for $40,000 which shows up on Dreama’s doorstep, which is the exact amount of money that was reportedly laundered by her beloved LA police detective uncle, and also the exact amount that Miles had promised as payment for her party-planning services.

Now Dreama is right at the heart of a mystery worthy of a classic film noir, and must road trip around LA in order to piece together all the clues, before she becomes the next femme fatale.