"Libby Fischer Hellmann has written a wonderful thriller. Triggered by a seemingly trivial exchange of intelligence in Prague near the end of World War II, the story quickly moves to contemporary Chicago, where the already harried life of Ellie Foreman is turned upside down by the death of an elderly man she can't recall ever even meeting. An Eye For Murder is a clever mystery puzzle within a beautifully wrought novel." -Jeremiah Healy author of the John Francis Cuddy mysteries "A masterful blend of politics, history, and suspense, this novel is well worth reading." -Publishers Weekly "Complicated, fascinating. Hellmann has a beautifully tuned ear, which makes many of her scenes seriously funny. Her film-editor instincts tell her when to let a scene run on and when to cut away." -Dick Adler, Chicago Tribune Libby Hellmann holds a MFA in film production from New York University, and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania. She lives and writes in the Chicago area. http: //hellmann.com/mystery-authorFrom Publishers WeeklySharp humor and vivid language distinguish Hellmann's Chicago-set debut. Ellie Forman, a recently divorced suburban mom, supports herself and her daughter by making documentaries, including a historical film, Celebrate Chicago, which has gained her local fame. The discovery of her name on a scrap of paper among the effects of an elderly gentleman, recently deceased in a Chicago rooming house, sets off a sinister chain of events and weaves an ever tightening web of intrigue. Preoccupied with her former husband's mounting stock losses, Ellie fails to put the pieces together until two more deaths and two attempted murders hit close to home. When her ex disappears and leaves her with a staggering amount of debt, Ellie panics, then turns her fear into determination to control her destiny. After taking on a new assignment to produce a campaign video for GOP Senate candidate Marian Iverson, she uncovers coincidences too startling to ignore. Soon Ellie is digging into a legacy of money and murder dating back to WWII and the Holocaust. A masterful blend of politics, history and suspense, this novel is well worth reading despite an overly complicated plot. Ellie is an engaging amateur sleuth whose wisdom grows as she learns the hard way that "Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet." Readers will hope they won't have to wait too long for Ellie's return. Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. Review“A clever mystery puzzle…a wonderful thriller.”—Jeremiah Healy, author of Turnabout"Libby Fischer Hellmann's debut novel is a very entertaining cerebral thriller. The story line is plausible as the characters and their motives are considerably realistic while the link between Nazi war crimes and a present day politician running for office seems plausible too. AN EYE FOR MURDER will not be this author's sole published mystery as fans will encourage Ms. Hellmann to publish more tales starring a delightful TV producer turned amateur sleuth."--Harriet Klausner“Sharp humor and vivid language distinguish Hellmann’s Chicago-set debut. Ellie Forman, a recently divorced suburban mom, supports herself and her daughter by making documentaries, including a historical film, Celebrate Chicago, which has gained her local fame. The discovery of her name on a scrap of paper among the effects of an elderly gentleman, recently deceased in a Chicago rooming house, sets off a sinister chain of events and weaves an ever tightening web of intrigue. Preoccupied with her former husband’s mounting stock losses, Ellie fails to put the pieces together until two more deaths and two attempted murders hit close to home. When her ex disappears and leaves her with a staggering amount of debt, Ellie panics, then turns to her fear into determination to control her destiny. After taking on a new assignment to produce a campaign video for GOP Senate candidate Marian Iverson, she uncovers coincidences too startling to ignore. Soon Ellie is digging into a legacy of money and murder dating back to WWII and the Holocaust. A masterful blend of politics, history and suspense, this novel is well worth reading despite an overly complicated plot. Ellie is an engaging amateur sleuth whose wisdom grows as she learns the hard way that ‘Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.’ Readers will hope they won’t have to wait too long for Ellie’s return.” -Publishers Weekly"The story begins with a mysterious exchange of papers connected to the Nazis in Prague in 1944. It then shifts to the present day Chicago. After old Ben Sinclair dies in his apartment, his landlady finds Ellie Foreman’s name on a scrap of paper among his possessions. Ellie meets with the landlady, only to discover that an hour and a half later the landlady has also died. Then someone breaks into Ellie’s home and steals little more than several cartons of Sinclair’s clothes that she had taken for donation to a charity.Ellie’s father, it turns out, had known Sinclair years earlier in a Jewish area of Chicago. During the war Sinclair had killed the head of the Nazi Bund on the North Side of the city. He then ran off to Europe and joined the Resistance. Others who knew Sinclair are attacked and killed. Ellie sets off on a search to discover why the old man had her name on that scrap of paper, while killers close in on her and her loved ones.This is Libby Fischer Hellmann’s first novel. It grew out of a story she submitted for the 1999 Bouchercon Short Story contest, which she won. It is a complesx tale of decades’ old secrets."--Mystery News"A mystery in the great tradition with sins of the past returning to haunt the present." --Barbara D'Amato"An old man dies alone in a boarding house in Chicago. A scrap of paper is discovered in his coat pocket with the name Ellie Foreman scribbled on it, along with a telephone number. The landlady who found him contacts Ellie, telling her about the note and asking how she is related to Ben Sinclair. Ellie, a documentary filmmaker, is baffled. She doesn't recognize his name. She goes to the dead man's apartment to try to find out what connection she could possibly have to the elderly man. Her search for answers only leads to more questions as she realizes that Ben was not who he had pretended to be. An old photograph, an unusual lighter, and a locked box seem to point to a mysterious past. But mystery gives way to terror when the landlady is killed and the young boy who taught the old man how to use the Internet to track Ellie is viciously attacked. Ellie finds herself thrown into the past as she is confronted with long-buried skeletons as well as current secrets that someone will kill to protect.AN EYE FOR MURDER is a well-written debut novel that will keep you turning the pages. Hellman delivers her plot at a tempo that keeps the action moving and the reader intrigued. The characters are strong and the mystery demands a solution. I will be looking for the next offering from this talented new author."-MyShelf.Com“Everything I want in a mystery: characters I care about; credible motivations; a complex plot. A wonderful book. Read it!”—Michael Allen Dymmoch, author of Incendiary Designs“[A] gutsy heroine. [A] fast-paced, entertaining mystery.”—Rochelle Krich, award-winning author of Dead Air

Someone is trying to kill Lila Hilliard. During the Christmas holidays she returns from running errands to find her family home in flames, her father and brother trapped inside. Later, she is attacked by a mysterious man on a motorcycle. . . and the threats don't end there. As Lila desperately tries to piece together who is after her and why, she uncovers information about her father's past in Chicago during the volatile days of the late 1960s . . . information he never shared with her, but now threatens to destroy her. Part thriller, part historical novel, and part love story, Set the Night on Fire paints an unforgettable portrait of Chicago during a turbulent time: the riots at the Democratic Convention . . . the struggle for power between the Black Panthers and SDS . . . and a group of young idealists who tried to change the world.                                                                                                                     NEW: Set The Night On Fire is available for a Kindlegraph!                    Also NEW is the Libby Hellmann App! Download it free at bit.ly/PuQH7H.From BooklistDecades-old student protests come back to haunt young people who shared an apartment in Chicago in the late 1960s. Dar Gantner has just been released from prison after 40 years for participating in the 1970 bombing of a Chicago department store in which three people died—among them his lover, Alix Kerr, daughter of the store owner. Now it seems his four remaining former housemates are in peril. When two of them, including Casey Hilliard, die in staged accidents within weeks, Dar suspects Ted Markham, who took part in the bombing but wasn’t charged and is now a U.S. senator running for the presidency. When atttempts are made on the life of Casey’s daughter and remaining heir, Lila, Dar has a compelling reason to protect her. Long-held secrets are revealed, as characters scramble for their lives. But what seems all too obvious to readers about the source of danger doesn’t occur to the characters until the eleventh hour. Hellmann, author of the Ellie Foreman and Georgia Davis mystery series, provides a colorful view of youthful antiestablishment activity in the 1960s, but her first stand-alone comes up short on suspense. --Michele Leber Review"A tremendous book - sweeping but intimate, elegiac but urgent, subtle but intense.  This story really does set the night on fire." --Lee Child"A brilliantly-paced thriller, transitioning seamlessly from modern-day Chicago to the late '60s. First-rate characterization...Best to start early in the day, as it is easy to stay up all night reading it." --Foreword MagazineRT Top Pick for December: "Electric... a marvelous novel." --RT Book Reviews"A top-rate thriller that taps into the antiwar protests of the 1960s... A jazzy fusion of past and present, Hellman's insightful, politically charged whodunit explores a fascinating period in American history."--Publishers Weekly"Set the Night on Fire is a compelling story of love, truth and redemption. This will be a break-out novel for this talented writer. Highly recommended." --Sheldon Siegel, New York Times best-selling author of Perfect Alibi