With the addition of Chain Thinking, the Shep Harrington SmallTown® Mystery Series is now available as an audible book. The series, with its quirky characters and small town settings, is ready to be rediscovered by all of those who like their mysteries read to them. Listen to samples of these books by clicking on the links provided below.
Imagine you’re in your late twenties. School is behind you. You have money, a beautiful wife, lots of friends. Everything you ever wanted is at your fingertips.
Syndey Vail, once a beautiful soap opera star, now has a passion for championing the rights of animals—but she keeps the controversial methods of her cause as shrouded as she keeps her partially disfigured face. Sydney enters lawyer-cum-detective Shep Harrington’s life in a cloud of dust and vanishes just as quickly, leaving behind two very different but strangely connected things: a chimpanzee and a murder.
It was eugenics that compelled white doctors to attempt to murder Baby John. It was compassion that led to his kidnapping. And it is the cruelest of circumstances – the murder of Jennifer Rice – that 50 years later leads Shep Harrington to search for Baby John.
Question begets question, and the slide down the slope proves inevitable: What happened to the baby? Who took it? Why was he taken? And who killed Jennifer Rice?
Chimps are smarter than you think! July 10, 2014 I loved this story. I learned so much about chimpanzees, and the laws that at this point, sadly do not protect them, all while reading a romping page turning murder mystery. Set in the DC area, with careful attention to area details it was a delight to read. Bravo Elliott Light!
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Rating: 4 out of 5.
No monkey business States on June 30, 2018 A very interesting book advocating for animal rights. Interesting but also fun to read!
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Rating: 5 out of 5.
Entertaining and Enlightening October 4, 2013 His writing is engaging, and the subject matter, use of animals in medical research labs, is enlightening and thought provoking.
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Rating: 5 out of 5.
A Hero for Our Times September 18, 2003 One reason that society’s ethics advance so slowly is that the reasons for advance are hidden behind the facts and figures of dry scientific papers and textbooks that remain unread by anyone but scientists and a few geeks like me. The facts and figures generated by the African slave trade were ample cause to end such an abomination, but it was not until Uncle Tom’s Cabin came along that people actually sat up and took notice.
Elliott Light’s new mystery novel, Chain Thinking, has the potential to awaken the public to the plight of chimpanzees being used in biomedical research in a way that scholarly publications simply have not done. In this story, the newest addition to his Shep Harrington Smalltown Mystery series, Light introduces his readers to a world of corporate greed that has little concern for the suffering it leaves in its wake.
Like all good mysteries, Chain Thinking compels the reader to turn yet another page and follow the story through its unexpected twists and turns. Whether you are a mystery aficionado, a Shep Harrington fan, or someone interested in the animal research industry’s darker secrets and devious behavior, you will surely find Chain Thinking an eye-opening and surprising story. Shep Harrington is a hero for our times.
For the animal rights crowd, Chain Thinking will make a great gift for friends and family members who refuse to read a graphic expose. Before they know it, they will be cheering for the animals. Go Shep!
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Rating: 5 out of 5.
Read Them All! March 29, 2019 Elliott Light makes you laugh, makes you cry, makes you angry, makes you think. What more can you ask of a writer? Oh, how about, great research into subjects many know little or nothing about. Now add a murder to be solved , along with a cast of characters who draw you in, makes for a great story wherein you learn something. I’ve read his books and I’m definitely a fan of Elliott Leight who is looking forward to what’s next.
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Rating: 5 out of 5.
The Perfect Tapestry September 19, 2003 Elliott Light’s CHAIN THINKING was the perfect tapestry of mystery, drama, animal rights, and the law. The story begins with a ‘big bang’ and doesn’t stop running from there. I was drawn to his protagonist Shep Harrington, the reluctant hero/detective/lawyer, through whose eyes and voice we are reminded of the injustices our society imposes upon chimpanzees and other animals for our own selfish purposes. Mr. Light is able to convey a strong message without being preachy. I also enjoyed Shep’s dry sense of humor. I promise you’ll pick up the book and finish it in one read.
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Rating: 5 out of 5.
Thought Provoking January 2, 2004 Elliott Light’s second book in the SmallTown Mystery Series, CHAIN THINKING, is a quick and easy read that leaves you with plenty to chew on long after you put the book down.
“When a writer attempts to introduce a social issue into his fiction, he can almost be sure that he will be accused of some kind of proselytizing. In Chain Thinking the issue is animal rights and the fiction is the story of Kikora, a chimpanzee, and Shep Harrington, a lawyer and detective manqué, and his battle not only to solve a murder, but to save the chimp from experimentation. Elliott Light has managed to weave these two parts together, and do it seamlessly.”
–MARTHA GRIMES, BEST-SELLING WRITER OF MORE THAN 20 MYSTERIES, NOTED ANIMAL RIGHTS ADVOCATE, AND WINNER OF THE NERO WOLFE AWARD (BEST MYSTERY)
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Rating: 5 out of 5.
“Those who think that stories about legal rights for nonhuman animals have to be boring, tedious, complicated, or abstract are in for a treat. In Chain Thinking, the plain truths about our inhumanity to other beings with whom we share our world are told in a way both exciting and funny. What animal rights lawyer wouldn’t want to be like Shep Harrington (except for the part about going to jail)? And I guessed wrong about whodunnit!”
— STEVEN M. WISE, LECTURER, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL, AND AUTHOR OF THE BOOKS RATTLING THE CAGE: TOWARD LEGAL RIGHTS FOR ANIMALS AND DRAWING THE LINE: THE CASE FOR ANIMAL RIGHTS
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Rating: 5 out of 5.
Small-town lawyer Shep Harrington should have known nothing good could come of a sudden visit from a stranger. When former soap-opera star Sydney Vail lands on his doorstep all keyed up, Shep figures he should help the damsel in distress, going so far as to agree to baby-sit her companion, a very intelligent chimp named Kikora. Problem is, Sydney doesn’t return, and soon Shep learns that she stole Kikora from a drug-testing laboratory and is being sought in connection with the murder of the lab’s head scientist. With the help of close friends, a very persistent investigative reporter, and one crotchety old attorney, Shep decides to help defend Sydney, all the while becoming enlightened about the plight of laboratory animals. This second installment in Light’s Shep Harrington series presents a respectable balance between the mystery and the cause, never turning preachy yet always making clear Light’s stance on the issue. Entertaining and enlightening.
Elliott Light 