Retired NCCC math professor debuts book

Story and photo by Janet Schultz
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, April 19, 2008

Retired Niagara County Community College Mathematics Professor David
H. Brown signs his mystery novel “The Elusive Chauffeur” for a reader.

David H. Brown, a retired Niagara County Community College professor of mathematics, has published a mystery. “The Elusive Chauffeur” will appear in local bookstores on May 20. He recently held a book signing at the Sanborn-Pekin Public Library where he talked about the publication.

“My wife had been wanting to write a book for a long time,” he explains. “I kept giving her ideas and one day she politely told me to write a book myself. So I did.”

Not only is this a mystery novel with the readers finding the motive and killer at the end, Brown’s book is filled with his love of mathematics and biblical teachings that has readers discovering or rediscovering their trust in God.

“It’s interesting to read of places I know about in Western New York, with no foul language and actually find biblical teachings in the story,” said Samuel F. Richbart, NCCC emeritus professor of mathematics. “I found the novel easy to read and I didn’t want to put it down.”

A wealthy businesswoman is found dead in her bedroom with a revolver in her hand and a suicide note on her desk. You would think that is the end. Not so. There’s the question of possible murder. Detectives Samuel Mohlar and Kenneth Gray enter the scene. Also mathematicians, they find their equations don’t add up and they are on the trail of a murderer. Enter the powerful gangster and the action begins.

It’s a case with the clock running as they search for the elusive killer.

Brown, who taught mathematics at NCCC for 33 years, has written four mathematics books. He received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

He and his wife, Kay, reside in Sanborn’ and their four children live in the Niagara Falls area.

“The Elusive Chauffeur” will be available at Barnes and Nobles, The Corner Bookstore, Niagara Falls; Beacons, Summit Park Mall; Benders, Clarence, and on Amazon.com.