Showing results by author "Bill Bernico" in All Categories

Cooper Times Six consists of six short stories of revenge. These include: "That's Show Biz:" Cooper is hired by a girl to rescue her boyfriend from drug dealers. "Rock Bottom:" Cooper finds the body of an old man in his dumpster and investigates his heirs. "A Really Good Friend:" Dean asks Elliott to help him hide the body of a prostitute that dies while he was with her. "Tall, Dark, and Dead:" Elliott is mugged. Then the mugger is killed by someone who thinks that they’ve killed Elliott.

Short Story Six-Pack consists of six short stories of revenge.

Elliott is hired by the FBI to patrol the street on his block during a parade for a visiting congressman. Elliott gets more than he bargained for when someone takes a shot at the congressman from a third story window. But all is not as it seems in this game of cat and mouse.

Matt's story jumps ahead to 1971, where his 21-year-old son, Clay, joins him in the family business. Matt and Clay are off to a rousing start as they are hired by an underworld figure to help him surrender to the authorities, because he's afraid he'll be killed before he gets to say his piece in court. Clay's going to learn the hard way that the job is not as easy as he thought it might be. Murder is never easy.

These three Cooper stories are being bundled together because they all took place in 1947 and could just as easily have been written as one novella.

Elliott has a chance to ride along with a K-9 unit of his police department. The dog, Daisy, proves invaluable and Elliott can see why the officers get so attached to their animal partners. Daisy is facing retirement at twelve-years-old and his cop handler can't take him home, since his family is allergic to dogs. Elliott agrees to take Daisy home for his son, Matt. However, Matt's terrified of the German Shepherd so Elliott takes Daisy to his office and finds that the dog proves very helpful in his line of work and decides to keep her at the office.

Here are thirteen short Cooper Stories compiled into one novella.

In the last Cooper Story, #86 - The Next Great Adventure, Clay helped get Harry Fleming out of town and saved his life. In this installment, Harry wants to repay Clay and invites him to come to Denver for a week. On the way there, Clay meets a woman on the plane and they become friends. Before the plane reaches Denver, however, it collides with a flock of geese and goes down in the Rocky Mountains. The only survivors are Clay and the woman he met. Now how do they get out of this mess? Or do they?

The Coopers have their hands full with their latest case. In order to save bus driver Harry Fleming's life, Clay, Elliott and Gloria Cooper have to kill him. And they have to be convincing if they want to keep the twenty-five thousand dollar fee from their unscrupulous client.

Raymond Chandler would turn over in his grave if he ever heard this one. It is my tribute to the man who gave us classic novels like The Big Sleep, Farewell My Lovely, Red Wind, Trouble Is My Business and scores of other noir stories from the 30s and 40s. In this story, Philip Harlowe (no relation to Jean) is hot on a case, tracking down a valuable object. Chandler fans will no doubt recognize this as a satire and a parody to the above mentioned Chandler stories.

Matt Cooper - The Early Cases runs more than 5 hours and consists of 8 short stories.

Tom Andrews watches as the luxury liner he set sail on slips into the South Pacific. It seems that he and one of the ship's crew, Ed Mullins are the only survivors and they're adrift in a lifeboat. This story follows their progress from the lifeboat to an uncharted island where they make a comfortable shelter for themselves while they figure out if and when they may be rescued.

L.A.P.D. Lt. Eric Anderson recommends Elliott to his friend, arson investigator Ron Harper. Ron needs help tracking down to arson suspects. Elliott is busy spending time with his now 15-year-old son, Matt and decides to take him along on his case, rather than leave him home alone. Matt gets a first-hand look at his dad's job from the inside, but was this a mistake? Matt could get hurt here.

It's 2002 now and Matt's 91. Clay is 52 and his grandson, Elliott is 22. Elliott wants to be a writer and has asked grandpa Matt if he and his private eye exploits would like to be the subject of his first book. Matt agrees and tells Elliott the story of how it all began back in the 1930s. This story starts in 1934 and has Matt telling of his beginnings in the Chicago Police Department, his move to Los Angeles, his beginnings in the Los Angeles Police Department, his first marriage to Stella and life after her death.

Lieutenant Dean Hollister asked private eye Clay Cooper to assist him on a stakeout job. Dean's trying to get the goods on a hired killer named Aldo Renatti. So far he's been unsuccessful but he has one more trick up his sleeve and with Clay's help, he must just be able to nab this ruthless assassin...and his little dog, too.

You just know your husband's stepping out on you but you can't prove it. Well, wait a minute, this is Hollywood and you know a hairdresser who knows a makeup artist. Together they can transform you into a beautiful, unrecognizeable tart. Then you can go out, pick up your husband at his favorite bar and see just how far he'll go. What can possibly go wrong?

Penelope is a meter maid who also does double duty emptying the parking meters and counting/sorting the change. This is how she first got interested in coin collecting. She started out by finding a Liberty dime, then a couple of buffalo nickels and finally several wheat pennies. While sorting her find at home one night, she discovers that someone had dropped a rare coin into a parking meter and she ended up with it. Could she keep it? Probably not after the original owner was killed. What to do, what to do.

Here for your listening enjoyment are seven tales of actual police cases straight from the files of a real Wisconsin police department, as they actually happened. These incidents were related to me by a retired police captain. Names were changed to protect the innocent, but the events are as real as they get. Truth IS stranger than fiction, as you will find out when you read these accounts.

Clay Cooper is home again, recovering from his second heart attack. His son, Elliott calls Gloria back in to help out temporarily. Their latest case involves a woman who wants Cooper to find out who killed her husband, a new P.I. who was shot while investigating only his second case. Elliott and Gloria visit the Burbank Police Department, since the victim, Gordon Reese, was found in their jurisdiction. The streets and back alleys of Burbank set the scene for another interesting case for Elliott and his on-again partner, Gloria.

Crime Never Pays runs 1 hour and 57 minutes and consists of the following short 10 short stories: "A Perfect Match," "Cellblock," "Cocaine," "Dog Day Morning," "Is It Safe?," "Loan Shark," "New On The Job," "Stella And The Chief," "The Fish Tie Strangler," and "Trick Or Treat."