THE LAST MATRYOSHKA - Roped into helping her socially inept, émigré stepfather, Nikolai, escape the clutches of a blackmailer, performance poet and private investigator Jo Epstein enters a world where criminals enforce a 19th-century code of honor, threats arrive inside not-so-traditional Matryoshka (nesting) dolls, and fashion models adorn themselves with lewd prison tattoos. From Vladimir Central Prison to the brooding Russian forest, Jo races against the clock to solve crimes committed on two continents.

ASK THE DEAD - Private investigator and performance poet, Jo Epstein, untangles a web of money-laundering, kidnapping and murder that extends from New York City to a hurricane-torn island in the Caribbean. Ann Romeo of MurerInk describes this first book in the Jo Epstein series as follows: “Chock full of terrific NY details, wonderful characters and clever turns of phrase, Joyce Yarrow’s ASK THE DEAD is a masterful debut and a must for fans of Sue Grafton and the Big Apple.”