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Showing 1 - 20 of 21 items
By Howard Goldblatt, Sylvia Li-chun Lin, Liu Zhenyun. 2015
Liu Yuejin, a worksite cook and a thief, has his pack with money stolen. While searching for it, he discovers…
another bag which contains a USB card detailing corruption of high officials and putting him in danger. Translated from the original 2007 Chinese edition. Violence, strong language, and some explicit descriptions of sex. 2015By Michael Simon. 2006
It's 1995 and Texas has a new governor, the heir to a political dynasty. As politicians and lobbyists converge on…
the capital, a former child star and recent porn actress is found murdered and a thirteen-year-old boy is sent out to make a treacherous living on the streets. All this is just some of what Dan Reles, Austin Homicide's only New Yorker and only Jew has to deal with. Violence, strong language, and explicit descriptions of sex. 2006By Wayne Arthurson. 2021
Sergeant Neumann and the inmates of Camp 133 are back! Even thousands of miles from the front lines, locked into…
a Canadian prisoner-of-war camp at the base of the Canadian Rockies, death isn't far away. For August Neumann, head of Camp Civil Security and decorated German war hero, this is the reality. Chef Schlipal has been found dead in Mess #3, a knife in his back. Now it's up to Neumann to find out what would drive the men of the camp, brothers-in-arms, to turn on each other. He's learned, of course, that beneath the veneer of duty and honour, the camp is anything but civil. When the trail of clues ends at the edge of the prison yard, Neumann must consider the crime bigger than the camp. Is someone getting out of the prison? If so, can he follow? If he can't, he might have to live with the dishonour of Camp 133.By Seicho Matsumoto, Louise Heal Kawai. 2016
"A master crime writer . . . Seicho Matsumoto's thrillers dissect Japanese society."-The New York Times Book Review"A stellar psychological…
thriller with a surprising and immensely satisfying resolution that flows naturally from the book's complex characterizations.Readers will agree that Matsumoto (1909-1992) deserves his reputation as Japan's Georges Simenon.-Publishers Weekly.While on a business trip to Kobe, Tsuneo Asai receives the news that his wife Eiko has died of a heart attack. Eiko had a heart condition so the news of her death wasn't totally unexpected. But the circumstances of her demise left Tsuneo, a softly-spoken government bureaucrat, perplexed. How did it come about that his wife-who was shy and withdrawn, and only left their house twice a week to go to haiku meetings-ended up dead in a small shop in a shady Tokyo neighborhood?When Tsuneo goes to apologize to the boutique owner for the trouble caused by his wife's death he discovers the villa Tachibana near by, a house known to be a meeting place for secret lovers. As he digs deeper into his wife's recent past, he must eventually conclude that she led a double life... Seicho Matsumoto was Japan's most successful thriller writer. His first detective novel, Points and Lines, sold over a million copies in Japan. Vessel of Sand, published in English as Inspector Imanishi Investigates in 1989, sold over four million copies and became a movie box-office hit.By Caroline Goode. 2020
When Rahmat Sulemani reported his girlfriend Banaz missing, it quickly became clear to DCI Caroline Goode that something was very…
wrong. In fact, Banaz had contacted her local police station multiple times before, even listing the names of the men she expected to murder her in a so-called 'honour' killing. Her parents didn't seem worried, but Banaz had already accused them of being part of the plot.DCI Goode's team took on the investigation before they even had proof that a murder had taken place. What emerged was a shocking story of betrayal and a community-wide web of lies, which would take the team from suburban south London to the mountain ranges of Kurdistan, making covert recordings and piecing together cell phone data to finally bring the killers to justice.By Vaseem Khan. 2018
In this enchanting Baby Ganesh Agency novel, Inspector Chopra and his elephant sidekick investigate a murder at Mumbai's grandest hotel.For…
a century Mumbai's iconic Grand Raj Palace Hotel has welcomed the world's elite. Anyone who is anyone stays at the Grand Raj. The last thing the venerable old hotel needs is a murder . . .So when the body of American billionaire Hollis Burbank is found, the pressure is on to label it a suicide. But then Chopra is called in . . . and finds a hotel full of people with a reason to want Burbank dead. Accompanied by his sidekick, baby elephant Ganesha, Chopra navigates his way through the palatial building, a journey that leads him steadily to a killer, and into the heart of darkness . . .PRAISE FOR THE SERIES'A most beguiling series' Financial Times'Utterly charming' Guardian'Colour and atmosphere flows out of every page' Daily ExpressBy Tom Callaghan. 2018
'Even better than Child 44. Akyl Borubaev is a terrific creation' Anthony Horowitz'Just keeps getting better . . . buy…
the whole series right away' Peter Robinson, No.1 bestselling author of Sleeping in the GroundNo sooner has Akyl Borubaev been reinstated as an Inspector in the Bishkek Murder Squad than he's suspended for alleged serious crimes against the state. After an attempted assassination of a prominent minister goes spectacularly wrong, Akyl is a fugitive from his former colleagues and involved with one of Kyrgyzstan's most dangerous criminals. On the run, caught up in a illegal scheme that can only end badly, it's time for Akyl to take a stand for everything he believes in.By Cath Staincliffe. 2015
'Stunning' - Ann CleevesEvery parent's worst gap year nightmare...After graduating, Lori Maddox heads off travelling and arrives in China where…
she finds work as a private English tutor. Back in Manchester, her parents Jo and Tom follow her adventures on her blog. Suddenly communication stops. When the silence persists a frantic Jo and Tom report her missing. But it's impossible to find out anything from so far away, so they travel to Chengdu to search for their daughter. Landing in a totally unfamiliar country, with no knowledge of the customs or language, and receiving scant help from the local authorities, Jo and Tom are forced to turn detective. It's an unbearably difficult challenge and, as the days pass, the fear that Lori is lost for good grows ever larger...Praise for Cath Staincliffe:'Harrowing and humane. A real knockout' Ian Rankin'It's always exciting to see a writer get better and better and Cath Staincliffe is doing just that' Val McDermid'Remarkable depth ... The most grown-up writer in British crime fiction' TelegraphSelected by the Sunday Times as one of the 40 best crime novels published 2015-2020Mumbai, murder and a baby elephant…
combine in a charming, joyful mystery for fans of Alexander McCall Smith and Rachel Joyce. On the day he retires, Inspector Ashwin Chopra discovers that he has inherited an elephant: an unlikely gift that could not be more inconvenient. For Chopra has one last case to solve...But as his murder investigation leads him across Mumbai - from its richest mansions to its murky underworld - he quickly discovers that a baby elephant may be exactly what an honest man needs. So begins the start of a quite unexpected partnership, and an utterly delightful new series.By Dean Koontz. 1995
The past can be a very dangerous place when it is locked into a nightmare... The Key to Midnight is…
a page-turning thriller from Dean Koontz that delves into the darkest of dreams. Perfect for fans of Stephen King and Harlan Coben. 'Dean Koontz writes page-turners, middle-of-the-night-sneak-up-behind-you suspense thrillers. He touches our hearts and tingles our spines' - Washington Post Book WorldWho is Joanna Rand?Alex Hunter hasn't come to Japan to fall in love. But Joanna Rand is the most beautiful, exciting woman he has ever met.But Joanna is not who she thinks she is. Ten years before, and halfway across the world, a brutally bizarre experiment recreated her mind. A violation so hideous that her dreams are filled with terror and her memories are a lie.If they are ever to be free, Alex and Joanna have to reopen the dangerous door into the nightmare past. Somehow they have to find the key to midnight... What readers are saying about The Key to Midnight: 'This is a story of suspense, action and intrigue set to the backdrop of international espionage... Koontz delivers his usual blend of mystery and action that keeps those pages turning''This is an intriguing tale, a mystery and a romance but shot through with an underlying psychological horror and also a political undertone, too''As always, so, so readable, and so, so well written'By Ovidia Yu. 2018
First in a delightfully charming crime series set in 1930s Singapore, introducing amateur sleuth Su Lin, a local girl stepping…
in as governess for the Acting Governor of Singapore.1936 in the Crown Colony of Singapore, and the British abdication crisis and rising Japanese threat seem very far away. When the Irish nanny looking after Acting Governor Palin's daughter dies suddenly - and in mysterious circumstances - mission school-educated local girl Su Lin - an aspiring journalist trying to escape an arranged marriage - is invited to take her place. But then another murder at the residence occurs and it seems very likely that a killer is stalking the corridors of Government House. It now takes all Su Lin's traditional skills and intelligence to help British-born Chief Inspector Thomas LeFroy solve the murders - and escape with her own life.'Simply glorious. Every nook and cranny of 1930s Singapore is brought richly to life, without ever getting in the way of a classic puzzle plot. But what's a setting without a jewel? Chen Su Lin is a true gem. Her slyly witty voice and her admirable, sometimes heartbreaking, practicality make her the most beguiling narrator heroine I've met in a long while.' Catriona McPherson'Charming and fascinating with great authentic feel. Ovidia Yu's teenage Chinese sleuth gives us an insight into a very different culture and time. This book is exactly why I love historical novels.' Rhys BowenBy Toshihiko Yahagi. 2004
A classic slice of Japanese hard-boiled noir paying homage to the master of the genre: Raymond ChandlerThe Wrong Goodbye pits…
homicide detective Eiji Futamura against a shady Chinese business empire and U.S. military intelligence in the docklands of recession Japan. After the frozen corpse of immigrant barman Tran Binh Long washes up in midsummer near Yokosuka U.S. Navy Base, Futamura meets a strange customer from Tran's bar. Vietnam vet pilot Billy Lou Bonney talks Futamura into hauling three suitcases of "goods" to Yokota US Air Base late at night and flies off leaving a dead woman behind. Thereby implicated in a murder suspect's escape and relieved from active duty, Futamura takes on hack work for the beautiful concert violinist Aileen Hsu, a "boat people" orphan whose Japanese adoption mother has mysteriously gone missing. And now a phone call from a bestselling yakuza author, a one-time black marketeer in Saigon, hints at inside information on "former Vietcong mole" Tran and his "old sidekick" Billy Lou, both of whom crossed a triad tycoon who is buying up huge tracts of Mekong Delta marshland for a massive development scheme. As the loose strands flashback to Vietnam, the string of official lies and mysterious allegiances build into a dark picture of the U.S.-Japan postwar alliance. Translated from the Japanese by Alfred BirnbaumMumbai, murder and a baby elephant combine in a charming, joyful mystery for fans of Alexander McCall Smith and Harold…
Fry. On the day he retires, Inspector Ashwin Chopra inherits two unexpected mysteries.The first is the case of a drowned boy, whose suspicious death no one seems to want solved.And the second is a baby elephant.As his search for clues takes him across the teeming city of Mumbai, from its grand high rises to its sprawling slums and deep into its murky underworld, Chopra begins to suspect that there may be a great deal more to both his last case and his new ward than he thought.And he soon learns that when the going gets tough, a determined elephant may be exactly what an honest man needs...(P)2015 Hodder & StoughtonBy Vaseem Khan. 2018
In the enchanting new Baby Ganesh Agency novel, Inspector Chopra and his elephant sidekick go undercover to investigate a murder…
at Mumbai's grandest hotel.For a century the iconic Grand Raj Palace Hotel has welcomed the world's elite. From film stars to foreign dignitaries, anyone who is anyone stays at the Grand Raj. The last thing the venerable old hotel needs is a murder...When American billionaire Hollis Burbank is found dead - the day after buying India's most expensive painting - the authorities are keen to label it a suicide. But the man in charge of the investigation is not so sure. Chopra is called in - and discovers a hotel full of people with a reason to want Burbank dead.Accompanied by his sidekick, baby elephant Ganesha, Chopra navigates his way through the palatial building, a journey that leads him steadily to a killer, and into the heart of darkness . . .(P)2018 Hodder & Stoughton LimitedThe enchanting new Baby Ganesh Agency novel sees Inspector Chopra and his elephant sidekick investigating the dark side of Bollywood.Mumbai…
thrives on extravagant spectacles and larger-than-life characters.But even in the city of dreams, there is no guarantee of a happy ending. Rising star and incorrigible playboy Vikram Verma has disappeared, leaving his latest film in jeopardy. Hired by Verma's formidable mother to find him, Inspector Chopra and his sidekick, baby elephant Ganesha, embark on a journey deep into the world's most flamboyant movie industry. As they uncover feuding stars, failed investments and death threats, it seems that many people have a motive for wanting Verma out of the picture. And yet, as Chopra has long suspected, in Bollywood the truth is often stranger than fiction...(P)2017 Hodder & Stoughton LimitedBy Toshihiko Yahagi. 2004
A classic slice of Japanese hard-boiled noir paying homage to the master of the genre: Raymond ChandlerThe Wrong Goodbye pits…
homicide detective Eiji Futamura against a shady Chinese business empire and U.S. military intelligence in the docklands of recession Japan. After the frozen corpse of immigrant barman Tran Binh Long washes up in midsummer near Yokosuka U.S. Navy Base, Futamura meets a strange customer from Tran's bar. Vietnam vet pilot Billy Lou Bonney talks Futamura into hauling three suitcases of "goods" to Yokota US Air Base late at night and flies off leaving a dead woman behind. Thereby implicated in a murder suspect's escape and relieved from active duty, Futamura takes on hack work for the beautiful concert violinist Aileen Hsu, a "boat people" orphan whose Japanese adoption mother has mysteriously gone missing. And now a phone call from a bestselling yakuza author, a one-time black marketeer in Saigon, hints at inside information on "former Vietcong mole" Tran and his "old sidekick" Billy Lou, both of whom crossed a triad tycoon who is buying up huge tracts of Mekong Delta marshland for a massive development scheme. As the loose strands flashback to Vietnam, the string of official lies and mysterious allegiances build into a dark picture of the U.S.-Japan postwar alliance. Translated from the Japanese by Alfred Birnbaum(P)2021 Quercus Editions LimitedBy Ovidia Yu. 2018
First in a delightfully charming crime series set in 1930s Singapore, introducing amateur sleuth Su Lin, a local girl stepping…
in as governess for the Acting Governor of Singapore.1936 in the Crown Colony of Singapore, and the British abdication crisis and rising Japanese threat seem very far away. When the Irish nanny looking after Acting Governor Palin's daughter dies suddenly - and in mysterious circumstances - mission school-educated local girl Su Lin - an aspiring journalist trying to escape an arranged marriage - is invited to take her place. But then another murder at the residence occurs and it seems very likely that a killer is stalking the corridors of Government House. It now takes all Su Lin's traditional skills and intelligence to help British-born Chief Inspector Thomas LeFroy solve the murders - and escape with her own life.'Simply glorious. Every nook and cranny of 1930s Singapore is brought richly to life, without ever getting in the way of a classic puzzle plot. But what's a setting without a jewel? Chen Su Lin is a true gem. Her slyly witty voice and her admirable, sometimes heartbreaking, practicality make her the most beguiling narrator heroine I've met in a long while.' Catriona McPherson'Charming and fascinating with great authentic feel. Ovidia Yu's teenage Chinese sleuth gives us an insight into a very different culture and time. This book is exactly why I love historical novels.' Rhys BowenBy Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan. 2014
"Singapore, with its great wealth and great poverty existing amid ethnic, linguistic, and cultural tensions, offers fertile ground for bleak…
fiction, as shown by the 14 tales in this solid Akashic noir anthology...Tan has assembled a strong lineup of Singapore natives and knowledgeable visitors for this volume exploring the dark side of a fascinating country."--Publishers Weekly"Singapore Noir is another fine addition to the Akashic's Noir series. Under Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan's tutelage, the stories puncture the stereotypes associated with Singapore and push the genre in new directions."--Chicago Center for Literature and PhotographyIncluded in Recent Books of Note, Toronto StarA Book of the Week pick at Susan Blumber-Kason's blog"Singapore Noir is for the Noir fiction lover."--A Bibliophile's Reverie"If you like noir and would like to catch up on the seedy underbelly of one of the Four Asian Tigers (Dragons), give this anthology a read."--Write LiesLaunched with the summer '04 award-winning best seller Brooklyn Noir, Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies. Each book is comprised of all-new stories, each one set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book.Brand-new stories by: Colin Goh, Simon Tay/Donald Tee Quee Ho, Philip Jeyaretnam, Colin Cheong, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, Monica Bhide, S.J. Rozan, Lawrence Osborne, Suchen Christine Lim, Ovidia Yu, Damon Chua, Johann S. Lee, Dave Chua, and Nury Vittachi.From the introduction by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan:"Say Singapore to anyone and you'll likely hear one of a few words: Caning. Fines. Chewing gum.For much of the West, the narrative of Singapore--a modern Southeast Asian city-state perched on an island on the tip of the Malay Peninsula--has been marked largely by its government's strict laws and unwavering enforcement of them...As much as I understand these outside viewpoints, I have always lamented that the quirky and dark complexities of my native country's culture rarely seem to make it past its borders...Beneath its sparkling veneer is a country teeming with shadows...And its stories remain. The rich stories that attracted literary lions W. Somerset Maugham and Rudyard Kipling to hold court at the Raffles Hotel (where the Singapore Sling was created) are still sprinkled throughout its neighborhoods. And in the following pages, you'll get the chance to discover some of them...You'll find stories from some of the best contemporary writers in Singapore--three of them winners of the Singapore Literature Prize, essentially the country's Pulitzer: Simon Tay, writing as Donald Tee Quee Ho, tells the story of a hard-boiled detective who inadvertently wends his way into the underbelly of organized crime, Colin Cheong shows us a surprising side to the country's ubiquitous cheerful 'taxi uncle,' while Suchen Christine Lim spins a wistful tale of a Chinese temple medium whose past resurges to haunt her...As for mine, I chose a setting close to my heart--the kelongs, or old fisheries on stilts, that once dotted the waters of Singapore but are gradually disappearing. I have a deep sense of romance about these kelongs, along with the many other settings, characters, nuances, and quirks that you'll see in these stories. They're intense, inky, nebulous. There is evil, sadness, a foreboding. And liars, cheaters, the valiant abound.This is a Singapore rarely explored in Western literature--until now. No Disneyland here; but there is a death penalty."By Cath Staincliffe. 2016
'Stunning' - Ann CleevesEvery parent's worst gap year nightmare...After graduating, Lori Maddox heads off travelling and arrives in China where…
she finds work as a private English tutor. Back in Manchester, her parents Jo and Tom follow her adventures on her blog. Suddenly communication stops. When the silence persists a frantic Jo and Tom report her missing. But it's impossible to find out anything from so far away, so they travel to Chengdu to search for their daughter. Landing in a totally unfamiliar country, with no knowledge of the customs or language, and receiving scant help from the local authorities, Jo and Tom are forced to turn detective. It's an unbearably difficult challenge and, as the days pass, the fear that Lori is lost for good grows ever larger...Praise for Cath Staincliffe:'Harrowing and humane. A real knockout' Ian Rankin'It's always exciting to see a writer get better and better and Cath Staincliffe is doing just that' Val McDermid'Remarkable depth ... The most grown-up writer in British crime fiction' TelegraphBy Cath Staincliffe. 2015
'Stunning' - Ann CleevesEvery parent's worst gap year nightmare...After graduating, Lori Maddox heads off travelling and arrives in China where…
she finds work as a private English tutor. Back in Manchester, her parents Jo and Tom follow her adventures on her blog. Suddenly communication stops. When the silence persists a frantic Jo and Tom report her missing. But it's impossible to find out anything from so far away, so they travel to Chengdu to search for their daughter. Landing in a totally unfamiliar country, with no knowledge of the customs or language, and receiving scant help from the local authorities, Jo and Tom are forced to turn detective. It's an unbearably difficult challenge and, as the days pass, the fear that Lori is lost for good grows ever larger...Praise for Cath Staincliffe:'Harrowing and humane. A real knockout' Ian Rankin'It's always exciting to see a writer get better and better and Cath Staincliffe is doing just that' Val McDermid'Remarkable depth ... The most grown-up writer in British crime fiction' Telegraph