Bernard Schopen

Author of the
Jack Ross Mysteries

Bernard Schopen is the author of three Jack Ross novels, as well as a study of the novels of Ross Macdonald. Born in Deadwood, South Dakota, he attended Black Hills State College, the University of Washington, and the University of Nevada, Reno. He lives in Reno with his family and is a lecturer in the English Department at the University of Nevada, Reno.

in the desert east of Lovelock. The missing persons report was filed by his daughter after attempts to locate him through contacts in Reno proved unsuccessful. Though he had officially given up his investigations business, sheriff's department officials also reported that Mr. Ross has kept his detective's license current. Speculation that he disappeared while on a case is, at present, unfounded. Anyone who knows of the whereabouts of Mr. Ross, or has seen him recently, is urged to call the sheriff's department immediately. No reward for information has been offered as of yet.
CARSON CITY, Nevada -- The Washoe County Sheriff's Department today has confirmed reports that private investigator Jack Ross is officially presumed missing. Mr. Ross, a Reno lawyer and private investigator, was last reported to be seen

The Iris Deception

In this third Jack Ross mystery, the Reno private eye is hired by iris-eyed Patsy McLeod to resume a case abandoned as hopeless eighteen years earlier--the search for her missing teenage daughter Heather. This time, Ross's investigation leads him from a failed ranch in the desert north of Reno to Sacramento's porno film industry, from the Lake Tahoe homes of the wealthy and powerful to the cramped offices of Berkeley's activist community. On the way, he uncovers layers of deception, greed, corruption, sorrow--and murder.
Ross also encounters Martha Reedy, a Berkeley-based P.I. who is as dogged about finding Heather as Ross, but for different reasons. Both are used to working solo, but find their paths hopelessly intertwined.

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The Desert Look
Reno private detective Jack Ross quit the investigation business and headed for the Nevada desert after finding the worst behind too many locked doors. But his six-month respite is interrupted by television reporter Miranda Santee. She is convinced she's onto the story that will fast forward her career. Miranda arrives in Jack's camp scared, desperate, and carrying a thirty-year-old photograph of two Las Vegas show girls. One of the women pictured is thought to be dead, and the other one is missing--so are millions of dollars.
Only one piece of the story can pull Jack out of the desert--the dead showgirl was Jack's mother. Now, the man who always believed his mother's death was an accident must determine if she was murdered.

Purchase The Desert Look at        Amazon        Barnes & Noble

The Big Silence

Native Nevadan Jack Ross is a private investigator who has about had it with murder and betrayal and is teetering on the edge of emotional collapse. But when called upon by a friend to help a young prostitute locate her grandfather, missing these forty years, he hits the cold trail . . . again.
Lawrence Parker vanished after killing a man, and Ross's search for him leads into the big silence of the desert, taking him through the alleys and backstreets of Reno to the doorstep of one of Nevada's most influential families. The flicker of changing identities, the shadow of blackmail, and the threat of sudden violence tail the private eye as he traces a tangle of family ties to the big silence at its center.

Purchase The Big Silence at        Amazon        Barnes & Noble

Ross Macdonald
In this study of Ross Macdonald, Bernard A. Schopen focuses on the manner as well as the matter in Macdonald's narrative art, analyzing the development of central themes like abandonment, victimization, and the sources of human evil. His study provides an overview of the american detective novel, placing the genre within the broader tradition of the American novel and assessing the artistic contribution of Macdonald's works. Schopen demonstrates how Macdonald transformed American detective fiction into a form that could give readers both the pleasure of a detective story and the psychological and artistic complexity of a novel.

Purchase Ross Macdonald at        Amazon        Barnes & Noble

Copyright © 2000-2006 by Bernard A. Schopen

Bernard Schopen is the author of three Jack Ross novels, as well as a study of the novels of Ross Macdonald. Born in Deadwood, South Dakota, he attended Black Hills State College, the University of Washington, and the University of Nevada, Reno. He lives in Reno with his family and is a lecturer in the English Department at the University of Nevada, Reno.

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		The Iris Deception
		In this third Jack Ross mystery, the Reno private eye is hired by iris-eyed Patsy McLeod to resume a case abandoned as hopeless eighteen years earlier--the search for her missing teenage daughter Heather. This time, Ross's investigation leads him from a failed ranch in the desert north of Reno to Sacramento's porno film industry, from the Lake Tahoe homes of the wealthy and powerful to the cramped offices of Berkeley's activist community. On the way, he uncovers layers of deception, greed, corruption, sorrow--and murder. Ross also encounters Martha Reedy, a Berkeley-based P.I. who is as dogged about finding Heather as Ross, but for different reasons. Both are used to working solo, but find their paths hopelessly intertwined.
Purchase The Iris Deception at Amazon Barnes & Noble

The Desert Look
Reno private detective Jack Ross quit the investigation business and headed for the Nevada desert after finding the worst behind too many locked doors. But his six-month respite is interrupted by television reporter Miranda Santee. She is convinced she's onto the story that will fast forward her career. Miranda arrives in Jack's camp scared, desperate, and carrying a thirty-year-old photograph of two Las Vegas show girls. One of the women pictured is thought to be dead, and the other one is missing--so are millions of dollars. Only one piece of the story can pull Jack out of the desert--the dead showgirl was Jack's mother. Now, the man who always believed his mother's death was an accident must determine if she was murdered.
Purchase The Desert Look at Amazon Barnes & Noble

		The Big Silence
		Native Nevadan Jack Ross is a private investigator who has about had it with murder and betrayal and is teetering on the edge of emotional collapse. But when called upon by a friend to help a young prostitute locate her grandfather, missing these forty years, he hits the cold trail . . . again. Lawrence Parker vanished after killing a man, and Ross's search for him leads into the big silence of the desert, taking him through the alleys and backstreets of Reno to the doorstep of one of Nevada's most influential families. The flicker of changing identities, the shadow of blackmail, and the threat of sudden violence tail the private eye as he traces a tangle of family ties to the big silence at its center.
Purchase The Big Silence at Amazon Barnes & Noble

Ross Macdonald
In this study of Ross Macdonald, Bernard A. Schopen focuses on the manner as well as the matter in Macdonald's narrative art, analyzing the development of central themes like abandonment, victimization, and the sources of human evil. His study provides an overview of the american detective novel, placing the genre within the broader tradition of the American novel and assessing the artistic contribution of Macdonald's works. Schopen demonstrates how Macdonald transformed American detective fiction into a form that could give readers both the pleasure of a detective story and the psychological and artistic complexity of a novel.
Purchase Ross Macdonald at Amazon Barnes & Noble