David Goodlett's most recent publications from Amazon, all three released since the end of May 2025, comprise a first-person murder mystery trilogy, The Chicagoland Mysteries. The first volume is Dead End in Downers Grove, the second is Murder in Melrose Park, and the third is Cold Case in Cook County. The primary setting for all three is the Near West suburbs of Chicago, though the big city factors in periodically as well. The mystery elements in each book are specific to that volume, though there is an arc to the entire trilogy that links them closely, especially the romance at the heart of it. Neither of the main characters is a professional detective; it is circumstances that draw them into investigating. In that sense, they are cozy mysteries, though with an edge. The relationships between characters, major and minor, and the evolution of those relationships, provide the emotional heart of the trilogy. The world of suburbia, long unduly slighted culturally, supplies the setting. All three novels  (told in the first person) take place in the early 1990s and are available in hardback and paperback versions, as well as on Kindle.  The covers above are all the work of Berge Design (bergedesign.com).

 

Goodlett's first published novel, which appeared in 2023 from Amazon, is The Devil's Payback, a stand alone suspense thriller that features three main characters, a man and two women, as they attempt to uncover the details of, and prevent, a planned mass killing in San Francisco in 1971. It is a third-person novel and is also available in hardcover, paperback, and on Kindle.