Absence Is No Alibi

“Cooked" Jack Coley, discovered in a barbecue pit, bequeaths an ensemble of colorful characters with motives a-plenty to kill him. Despite dangers, former Principal Ross Talbot sorts through them all to try to save the police's prime suspect, one of his students. Lani Steele knows how to bring together a gripping mystery.
Andy Greensfelder, author, Drop Dead Art A Central Coast setting, intrigue and colorful characters. A modern take on the Western who-dunnit yarn, this is a story you can step into. Terrific. 
Roslyn Strohl, Central Coast Poet and Writer In this nicely woven mystery, a ruthless school superintendent is found in a California Central Coast park, beaten to death with a most unusual weapon. The murder creates havoc in the district when Dr. Ross Talbot, a counselor who has been wronged by the superintendent, assumes the task of finding the killer before he or she strikes again.

Ross is a ‘keeper’….
Sue McGinty, author, the Los Lobos Mysteries

The short mystery fiction of Lani Steele has been published in Red Herring Mystery Magazine, Mystery Weekly, and in several Central Coast Sisters in Crime anthologies. Absence is the first in a proposed series. The story is set in the early 1990’s in several towns along California’s scenic Central Coast, at that time far less developed and arguably more scenic than it is today. Steele’s other publications include two stand-alone volumes of poetry, poetry anthologies, and poetry, fiction, and non-fiction feature and travel articles in local and national magazines. She has served as editor of several poetry collections, and was a founding member of the Central Coast Sisters in Crime Chapter. Steele, an educator for over fifty years, is a retired instructor and teacher-trainer in the Education Department at Cal Poly. She was also the head of English Department at Brent International School, Manila, for seven years. She lives in Los Osos, California, with her husband Gary Mickle. They have four children who are far-flung, feeding the couple’s travel addiction nicely.