CHARACTER FLAWS — Available on 5/26/2026
Level Best Books will publish Joe Golemo‘s third book in the Grayson Dyle Mystery Series, CHARACTER FLAWS, on May 26, 2026. Be sure to mark your calendar now!
Book Signing at Once Upon A Crime — 6/13/2026
Joe will be signing copies of Character Flaws at Once Upon A Crime in the Uptown area of Minneapolis on Saturday, June 13, 2026. Once Upon A Crime, 604 W. 26th St., Minneapolis, MN 55405
SYNOPSIS
Grayson Dyle didn’t come to the black-tie gala to play detective. He reluctantly came to support his girlfriend, sip weak champagne, and shake hands with people who wouldn’t remember him. But a prominent protester is found strangled after St. Paul’s most controversial development project is unveiled, and the cops say the DNA left behind by the killer matches someone in Grayson Dyle’s tangled family tree. That might be hard to explain—especially since his biological father wears a Catholic bishop’s collar and has everything to lose.
Now, with his relationship with his girlfriend on the brink of disaster, his brother blaming him for everything, and his birth father suddenly in the frame for murder, Grayson—product designer, reluctant sleuth, and hopeless romantic—must untangle a web of political corruption, hidden identities, and blackmail before the truth destroys everyone he cares about.
In a city where no one’s clean and every favor has a price, Grayson must walk the razor’s edge between loyalty and justice while deciding how far he’ll go to protect the truth—and whether anyone, including himself, can ever truly outrun their character flaws.
Because every family has flaws. His just might be fatal.
Early reviews for CHARACTER FLAWS have been great!
“An amazing story with captivating secrets! Church secrets, business secrets, political secrets. The murder of a young activist protesting a questionable land development drags Grayson Dyle into an investigation that jeopardizes the most important of them all –his family secrets. Dyle is forced to navigate deceitful clergy, an unscrupulous contractor, and corrupt politics, always leaving the reader to wonder what comes next. Character Flaws is Joe Golemo’s best work yet! A suspenseful mystery that follows a genetic trail of evidence where even those wearing a priest’s collar are not above suspicion.”
— Michael Wasowicz, Forensic Specialist (retired) – North Regional Major Crimes Task Force, IL
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“Grayson Dyle is back uncovering more family secrets in this heartfelt and twisty mystery that will keep you guessing til the end!”
— A.V. Howland, author of the Fanta Delaney Mystery Series
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RUBY RED FLAWS — Available Now!
Level Best Books recently published Joe Golemo‘s second book, RUBY RED FLAWS.
Click Here to order the paperback or Kindle version from Amazon.
SYNOPSIS
Grayson Dyle, the owner of a fledgling product design firm, and his brother, Dean, a technology automation guru, have developed an uneasy truce with their newly discovered birth father, Catholic Bishop Thomas Brennen.
The Bishop asks Grayson and his girlfriend, Kate Larson, to surreptitiously look into a rogue priest who is holding unauthorized services at Ruby Ray’s Supper Club and may be turning this group into his personal cult. Just as Grayson and Kate start to investigate, one of the Supper Club entertainers, known as the Swing Girl, is discovered bound to her swing, dead. A few minutes later, they discover that Ray’s namesake, the infamous Poona Ruby, the largest ruby ever found in Australia, was stolen at the same time as the murder.
Grayson enlists Dean’s help, and the three soon uncover multiple double crosses and numerous suspects, including Ray’s son Eric, who is being sought by a Las Vegas mob boss, Chadrick Benham, a washed-up motivational speaker, and Marcel, the rogue priest himself. After Marcel and another entertainer are brutally murdered, Grayson realizes they must find the killer before one of them becomes the next victim.
Reviews for RUBY RED FLAWS have been great!
“Ruby Red Flaws is a captivating rollercoaster of suspense and intrigue! This skillfully constructed murder mystery keeps you on the edge of your seat from the first page to the last twist. With remarkable characters, a riveting plot, and a trail of unanticipated clues, this is a must-read for fans of the Grayson Dyle mystery series. You’ll be second-guessing everything and everyone until the shocking, heart-stopping ending!”
— Anthony Scarpelli, Chief of Police (retired) – Skokie, Illinois Police Department
Pioneer Press Review by Mary Ann Grossmann
Now that Sheila’s body was covered, I turned to the MC and whispered, “This is obviously a murder, or she wouldn’t have been wired to the swing. The killer could still be somewhere in the building, and they may even be sitting here right now…” — from “Ruby Red Flaws”
It was an ugly sight. The corpse of the swing girl at Ruby Ray’s Supper Club in Lilydale along Highway 13 was wired onto her trapeze, one hand moving back and forth to the horror of the audience. Among the diners are Grayson Dyle, co-owner of a Twin Cities product design firm, and Kate, his bookkeeper girlfriend who works for Ray, the club owner and husband of the dead woman.
When it’s obvious the woman has been murdered, Kate races to the safe to be sure her employer’s big uncut ruby is still there. It isn’t, and law enforcement accuses Kate of the murder and stealing the ruby, found by Ray in Australia and displayed in an old museum next to the supper club.
Dyle, a nice guy who loves Kate, is determined to find the real killer to clear Kate’s name. He also has been asked by his biological father, a Catholic bishop, to look into a priest who is holding cult-like services at the supper club on Sunday mornings. (Dyle and his brother, who had been adopted, learned of their birth parents in “Design Flaw,” first in this series.)
As Grayson looks for the killer, a lot of information comes out about the rogue priest and the ruby of which of which Ray is so proud. Is there a real stone and a fake? Why would anyone kill Ray’s wife, who everyone admired? The supper club isn’t doing very well financially but can Ray sell the property to build condos overlooking the river that require variances?
Grayson is a likable sleuth, trying to do the best he can for everyone. And the author grounds his story in local color from having a little fun with Edina (“cake-eaters”) to a church that looks like St. James Evangelical Lutheran in West St. Paul and a salute to the real-life Diamond Jim’s club in a mall that is now the site of condos.
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DESIGN FLAWS — Available Now!
Level Best Books published Joe Golemo‘s first book, DESIGN FLAWS. Click here to order at Amazon.
SYNOPSIS
At his father’s funeral, Grayson Dyle, the owner of a fledgling product design firm, observes his mother hiding an envelope in the casket. He retrieves the letter, revealing that he and his brother Dean, a home automation guru, were adopted. Eager to learn more, he submits a DNA sample online and connects with a prominent attorney who claims to be their father and who tells the brothers their birth mother died as she was giving Grayson life.
When the attorney is brutally murdered, Grayson has little time to mourn the loss of two fathers because he quickly becomes a prime suspect and the killer’s next target. The brothers investigate and soon discover their mother died suspiciously as well. Their search for justice leads them to a local Catholic Bishop, whose stonewalling and lies are designed to protect the Church and keep family secrets hidden.
As Grayson struggles to save his business from collapse, he must overcome his internal conflicts about being adopted, prevent his brother from going off the rails, and find the design flaws in the murderer’s plans before he or Dean becomes the next victim.
Reviews for Design Flaws have been great!
“This was great fun to read. Breezy and smart and funny and compelling. You’ve given us a likable hero, two brothers, a dead mother with a secret, and the promise of more mystery to come. Very entertaining and engaging, and we want to keep on reading. Which is the whole point, to keep the reader reading. Well done!”
Paula Munier, USA TODAY bestselling author of the Mercy Carr Mysteries
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“I love how tightly wound this mystery is as two brothers keep circling around a knotted past. A great read with new author Golemo totally nailing the ending.”
Mary Logue, author of THE BIG SUGAR
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Pioneer Press Review by Mary Ann Grossmann
Design Flaws was one of “9 stellar Minnesota-based mysteries published in 2023”
