The Hidden Treasure Files

The second novel in the Will James Mystery Series, the anti-establishment private investigator and his crew are asked to help unravel a mystery that begins in a Brooklyn antique store and ends in the most unlikely of locations. Every Sunday morning, precisely at 10:30 sharp, there is an auction held in a sparsely furnished back room of Better Times Remembered, a small neighborhood antique store in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Albert Froog, the owner of the store and self declared auctioneer, personally chooses the items for each week's auction. Generally these items are fairly ordinary but become more interesting because of the back story he is able to weave around them. At times there is even a speck of truth in the story he tells. At this particular Sunday morning auction, one of the items he offers up is a prohibition era permit in a battered old wooden frame authorizing the manufacture of alcohol. It was one of many items he acquired in an estate purchase. On his inventory sheet he has assigned a value of 50 cents to one dollar for this item because so many similar permits were issued during prohibition and the frame is of little or no value. Hoping he will wind up with something between 50 cents and a dollar he starts the bidding at $2.00. To his surprise and amazement two separate people quickly bid the price up to $100,000. "Who would pay $100,000 for this piece of junk?" Froog asks himself. "What do they know that I don't?" When the head of the New York Mafia family also shows interest in the item Froog becomes doubly convinced that he really has a hidden treasure on his hands. If you think you know how this will all end you are so very, very wrong. As with all Will James Mysteries, the numerous twists and turns will keep you reading and guessing until the very last page. Discover for yourself what all the fuss is about!
About the Author: Martin Herman, a successful businessman, born and raised in Brooklyn, New York and a transplanted Hartford County Connecticut resident for the better part of the past two decades, has been writing timely articles and short stories since he was 11 years old. It all began when his 6th grade teacher pulled him aside and told him that she believed he had a natural talent and so she wanted to give him a homework assignment for the rest of his life. She told him to create a new story each and every week; the story could consist of just a few key words or be many pages long. However, the constants had to be that it was imaginative, entertaining, and above all, contain interesting characters. As he now admits, he missed a few weeks - but not many - and by 8th grade he was selling short stories to magazines around the country. In 2015, several months before his 75th birthday, he published his first full length novel, a historical murder mystery, "The Jefferson Files". In 2016 he published his next novel, a contemporary thriller, "The Hidden Treasure Files". In May of 2017 he will be publishing his third novel in the current series, a modern tale of murder and terrorist inspired chaos, "The Sweet Revenge Files". In each of his novels he lovingly blends actual historical events with his own imaginative storytelling abilities. By creating interesting characters with both good and questionable instincts and gently placing them in interesting situations he is able to keep the reader engrossed until the very last page. He believes that almost everyone has an interesting story to share and has been on a mission to help both young and old put those stories to paper.