By Beverley Slopen Thirty years ago, author Howard Engel introduced his lovable and amusing sleuth Benny Cooperman.  Benny, the Jewish private detective from small town Ontario has now appeared in 12 adventures and is hailed as a Canadian treasure.  “The great Canadian detective did not exist until Howard Engel invented Benny Cooperman,” wrote Andrew Ryan…

Citation by Cynthia Good, Engel’s Long Time Editor   In the year that Howard Engel’s first novel The Suicide Murders was published, mysteries appeared featuring such well known PIs as Mike Hammer, Lew Archer, Travis McGee and Spenser. How daring to introduce a Benny Cooperman to that list! With Benny, Howard proved that a “Yiddishe Kopf â€œcan overcome the…

“In Engel’s memoir, he relates the difficult journey from bookworm word-jockey to near-illiterate and back again; a successful mystery novelist in his native Canada, Engel awoke one morning to discover he’d lost the ability to read. Soon, he’s informed that he suffered a stroke while asleep, and is afflicted with alexia sine agraphia, a condition…

Edinburgh 1879,  young Arthur Conan Doyle and his professor Dr. Joseph Bell are plunged into the thickets of municipal corruption in their race to rescue an innocent from the hangman. A serial killer is stalking Hemingway’s Paris of 1925. When Laure, an exotic beauty, is killed, Michael Ward, a young reporter, gets involved. 

Vanessa Moss, the sexy siren in the executive suite, hires Benny to protect her. He gets more trouble than he expected. Benny mixes with Grantham’s elite who buy, trade and steal paintings — and also murder. Benny is awash in black-flies, cults, and murder in the Canadian wilderness, while tracking a celebrity evangelist.CBC TV Film…

Korean edition “Engel has produced one of the most unusual and affecting mysteries ever.â€Kirkus Review “This is a slick mystery, but it’s also a terrific recovery tale.â€The Globe and Mail “…one of the best Benny Cooperman mysteries yet…Engel does a masterful job…an intriguing perspective.â€Quill & Quire “A fascinating mystery…â€Library Journal “Probably his most talked about…

“Mr Engel is a born writer, a natural stylist…This is a writer who can bring a character to life in a few lines.” Ruth Rendell “Engel can turn a phrase as neatly as Chandler…Benny Cooperman novels [are] first-class entertainment, stylishly written, the work of an original, distinctive, and distinctively Canadian talent.†Julian Symons  “Benny Cooperman…

“The great Canadian detective did not exist until Howard Engel invented Benny Cooperman.” Andrew RyanGlobe and Mail Howard Engel has been honoured with the Arthur Ellis Award for Crime Fiction, the Derrick Murdoch Award, the prestigious Matt Cohen award for literature, and the order of Canada. His novels have been adapted for film and radio and…

“Mr Engel is a born writer, a natural stylist…This is a writer who can bring a character to life in a few lines.â€Ruth Rendell “Engel can turn a phrase as neatly as Chandler…Benny Cooperman novels [are] first-class entertainment, stylishly written, the work of an original, distinctive, and distinctively Canadian talent.â€Julian Symons “Benny Cooperman is a…