Michael B. Schiffer

I am a retired archaeologist and historian of technology. I taught for 39 at the University of Arizona, and was the Fred A. Riecker Distinguished Professor of Anthropology. These days I am writing mystery novels. The first four are co-authored with my wife, Annette Schiffer: A Buzz About Campus, Holy Smoke!, A Tough Nut to Crack, and Vintage Crimes. Two more are in the works, all part of the series, The Oak Grove Chronicles. These novels are set in a fictional town, Oak Grove, in California, where there is a state University. The unusual crimes, including murders, are solved by the collaboration of a Sheriff's detective, Alan Bluestein, and a forensic archaeologist, Laura Mancini. In addition to keeping readers entertained with our warmhearted blend of serious and silly, we manage to poke fun at university life. We live in northern Virginia and enjoy travel and spending time with grandchildren.

Recently I have sole authored a political mystery, Scoop of the Century: The Fateful Odyssey of Reporter Stella Weiss. Here is the blurb: Three months after the commission of a notorious assassination, the official investigation stalls. An ambitious and daring Black reporter at the L.A. Times, Stella Weiss, unearths the truth, writing about the perpetrators’ backgrounds, surprising motivations, and how they pulled it off. Shortly after her story is published, Stella disappears. Scoop of the Century is the suspenseful and fast-paced tale of the reporter’s extraordinary odyssey. In a master storyteller’s crisp and lively prose, the book’s memorable characters take readers along a riveting journey.