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Showing 33481 - 33500 of 68062 items
By Jennifer Kincheloe. 2015
It's 1907 Los Angeles. Mischievous socialite Anna Blanc is the kind of young woman who devours purloined crime novels--but must…
disguise them behind covers of more domestically-appropriate reading. She could match wits with Sherlock Holmes, but in her world women are not allowed to hunt criminals. Determined to break free of the era's rigid social roles, Anna buys off the chaperone assigned by her domineering father and, using an alias, takes a job as a police matron with the Los Angeles Police Department. There she discovers a string of brothel murders, which the cops are unwilling to investigate. Seizing her one chance to solve a crime, she takes on the investigation herself. If the police find out, she'll get fired; if her father finds out, he'll disown her; and if her fiancé finds out, he'll cancel the wedding and stop pouring money into her father's collapsing bank. Midway into her investigation, the police chief's son, Joe Singer, learns her true identity. And shortly thereafter she learns about blackmail.Anna must choose--either hunt the villain and risk losing her father, fiancé, and wealth, or abandon her dream and leave the killer on the loose.From the Trade Paperback edition.By James W. Ziskin. 2018
Ellie Stone, a young newspaper reporter in 1960s' upstate New York, investigates a double murder at an abandoned stud farm…
near glamorous Saratoga Springs.August 1962. A suspicious fire claims a tumbledown foaling barn on the grounds of the once-proud Tempesta Stud Farm, halfway between New Holland and Saratoga Springs, NY. The blaze, one of several in recent years at the abandoned farm, barely prompts a shrug from the local sheriff. That is until "girl reporter" Ellie Stone, first on the scene, uncovers a singed length of racing silk in the rubble of the barn. And it's wrapped around the neck of one of two charred bodies buried in the ashes. A bullet between the eyes of one of the victims confirms it's murder, and the police suspect gamblers. Ellie digs deeper.The double murder, committed on a ghostly stud farm in the dead of night, leads Ellie down a haunted path, just a stone's throw from the glamour of Saratoga Springs, to a place where dangerous men don't like to lose. Unraveling secrets from the past--crushing failure and heartless betrayal--she's learning that arson can be cold revenge.By Carolyn Haines. 2018
USA Today bestselling author Carolyn Haines will once again delight readers with Charmed Bones, the next sparkling Sarah Booth Delaney…
mystery.Zinnia, Mississippi is rife with quirky characters, but the arrival of three sister witches—and their intention to open a Wiccan boarding school—sets the small town on its ear. And bodies begin to accumulate as a result. Faith, Hope, and Charity Harrington are sexy and smart. They’re setting up their boarding school in an old dairy—a piece of property with tremendous development potential. And they’re standing in the way of “progress,” according to some in the town.When young Corey Fontana goes missing, Delaney Detective Agency is hired to find the youth—who’s well known as a local hooligan. His mother, Kitten Fontana, who is married to the kind of land development, believes the witches have abducted her son and makes no bones about it. She’s willing to pay hard cash to find her son, especially if she can implicate the witches in his disappearance.When Sarah Booth Delaney and her partner, Tinkie Richmond, find Corey, unharmed, it is only the beginning of a series of events that include midnight dances under a full moon, love potions, and murder. Are the sister witches criminals… or victims? Do they truly have magical powers, as they claim? Sarah Booth and Tinkie must find the answer before more people are harmed.By Cooper West. 2014
Guardsmen are always matched in a bonded pair. The Protector can shift into a weredog, and the human partner is…
his Handler. They are incredibly rare and highly valued, but people also fear them for their mystical abilities. No Protector in living memory has outlived his Handler--until Alex Taylor. Now a widower, Alex lives a lonely half-life and faces day after day of grief with no hope for happiness in the future. When he unexpectedly bonds with the young and vibrant Handler Marcus Stephanek, Alex is angry and unwilling to leave the memory of his former Handler behind. He pushes Marcus away and tries to distance himself from their bond. But then a mysterious villain who has been secretly shadowing Alex for years sets his plan in motion. Alex and Marcus must learn to trust their bond and love each other, or risk not only their own lives but the lives of those closest to them.By Joan Lowery Nixon. 1995
While on vacation at a dude ranch, the Casebusters chase a horse thiefSean and Brian Quinn can't think of anywhere…
cooler than the Austin Dude Ranch. Although neither has ever ridden a horse, they're positive that playing cowboy is going to become their favorite pastime. But before they can learn to rope and ride, they're going to have to practice their other favorite hobby: solving mysteries. A racehorse has been stolen from the neighboring farm, and the ranch's owners think that their horses may be the next to disappear. To find the missing pony, Brian and Sean will have to confront something even more scary than horse thieves: the ghost of the crazy old gold prospector who is said to haunt a nearby abandoned mine. Whether the culprit is living or dead, Brian and Sean must catch him faster than they can say, "Giddy-up!"By Sarah Zettel. 2014
"A rollicking spy caper in corsets. . . . This witty romp will delight fans of historical fiction as well…
as mystery lovers." --Kirkus Reviews, starred review of Palace of Spies As a lady in waiting in King George's London court, Peggy has survived a forced betrothal, royal scandals, and an attempt or two on her life. And now she has a new problem: her horrible fiancé has returned to claim her! To save her neck, or at least her hand in marriage, Peggy joins forces with her cousin Olivia and her sweetheart, Matthew. But if she doesn't play her cards right, her career as courtier and spy might come to an end at the bottom of the river Thames . . .By Karin Slaughter. 2013
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * With the bonus story "Busted"Karin Slaughter's novels featuring detective Will Trent are utterly riveting and…
masterfully drawn. Her latest thriller, Unseen, pits detectives, lovers, and enemies against one another in an unforgettable standoff between righteous courage and deepest evil. Will Trent is a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent whose latest case has him posing as Bill Black, a scary ex-con who rides a motorcycle around Macon, Georgia, and trails an air of violence wherever he goes. The cover has worked and he has caught the eye of a wiry little drug dealer who thinks he might be a useful ally. But undercover and cut off from the support of the woman he loves, Sara Linton, Will finds his demons catching up with him. Although she has no idea where Will has gone, or why, Sara herself has come to Macon because of a cop shooting: Her stepson, Jared, has been gunned down in his own home. Sara holds Lena, Jared's wife, responsible: Lena, a detective, has been a magnet for trouble all her life, and Jared's shooting is not the first time someone Sara loved got caught in the crossfire. Furious, Sara finds herself involved in the same case that Will is working without even knowing it, and soon danger is swirling around both of them. In a novel of fierce intensity, shifting allegiances, and shocking twists, two investigations collide with a conspiracy straddling both sides of the law. Karin Slaughter's latest is both an electrifying thriller and a piercing study of human nature: what happens when good people face the unseen evils in their lives.BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Karin Slaughter's Cop Town.Praise for Unseen "Slaughter's most powerful book to date . . . No one writes like Slaughter. . . . Her words fairly growl on paper but yet her descriptions of relationships are tear inducing. This may make her an anomaly but she is the best damn anomaly writing books today. Make sure you read Unseen."--The Huffington Post "Compelling . . . [Slaughter] balances a complex plot with believable twists while sensitively exploring her realistic characters' emotions and problems."--South Florida Sun-Sentinel "An emotional roller coaster ride . . . fast-paced and edge-of-your seat . . . Slaughter is brilliant."--Wichita Falls Times Record News "Superb and emotionally wrenching . . . The despicable nature of the crimes being investigated only serves to enhance Will's innate goodness and humanity. Current series fans will be delighted, and newcomers to Slaughter's work will find a new obsession."--Library Journal "Slaughter plunges readers into the action from the get-go with her electrifying ability to write suspenseful, riveting confrontations between cops and criminals, all while deepening the backstories of her longtime series leads. Another intense read, on multiple levels, from the ever-reliable Slaughter."--Booklist "Tense and densely plotted . . . The twisted plot and shocking reveals remind readers why Slaughter remains a dominant voice in crime fiction."--Publishers WeeklyBy Charlie Huston. 2006
Reluctant hitman Henry Thompson has fallen on hard times. His grip on life is disintegrating, his pistol hand shaking, his…
body pinned to his living room couch by painkillers-and his boss, Russian mobster David Dolokhov, isn't happy about any of it. So Henry is surprised when he's handed a new assignment: keep tabs on a minor league baseball star named Miguel Arenas. Henry has no pity for the slugger and the wicked gambling problem that got him in trouble, but he can't help liking the guy. After all, Henry used to be just like him: a natural-born ball player with a bright future. But hell, that was long ago. Before Henry did some guy a favor and ended up running for his life. Before his girlfriend and buddies got gunned down by someone on his tail. Before he agreed to buy his parents' safety with a life of violence.And when Miguel gets drafted by the Mets and is sent to the Brooklyn Cyclones, Henry must head back to New York, back to the place where all his problems began-and where Henry might find a real reason to keep living, a reason that may just cost him his life."Huston reminds me of all my favorite writers-Pete Dexter, Robert Stone, Crumley. If there is such a thing as compassionate noir, Charlie has found it. He's a true marvel."-Ken Bruen, author of The Guards "Charlie Huston is the real deal."-Peter StraubFrom the Trade Paperback edition.By Barbara Cleverly. 2018
Barbara Cleverly, bestselling author of the Joe Sandilands series, introduces an ingenious new sleuth who navigates 1920s Cambridge, a European…
intellectual capital on the cusp of dramatic change.England 1923: Detective Inspector John Redfyre is a godsend to the Cambridge CID. The ancient university city is at war with itself: town versus gown, male versus female, press versus the police force and everyone versus the undergraduates. Redfyre, young, handsome and capable, is a survivor of the Great War. Born and raised among the city’s colleges, he has access to the educated élite who run these institutions, a society previously deemed impenetrable by local law enforcement. When Redfyre’s Aunt Hetty hands him a front-row ticket to the year’s St. Barnabas College Christmas concert, he is looking forward to a right merrie yuletide noyse from a trumpet soloist, accompanied by the organ. He is intrigued to find that the trumpet player is—scandalously—a young woman. And Juno Proudfoot is a beautiful and talented one at that. Such choice of a performer is unacceptable in conservative academic circles. Redfyre finds himself anxious throughout a performance in which Juno charms and captivates her audience, and his unease proves well founded when she tumbles headlong down a staircase after curtainfall. He finds evidence that someone carefully planned her death. Has her showing provoked a dangerous, vengeful woman-hater to take action? When more Cambridge women are murdered, Redfyre realizes that some of his dearest friends and his family may become targets, and—equally alarmingly—that the killer might be within his own close circle.By Candice Fox. 2017
"Complex, human characters, and a dark, meaty story, and fine writing, and a great sense of place – this is…
one of the best crime thrillers of the year. Sign me up as a big-time Fox fan!" —Lee ChildCrimson Lake by Sydney-based, Ned Kelly award-winning author Candice Fox is a thrilling contemporary crime novel set in Queensland, Australia, perfect for readers of authors like James Patterson, Harlan Coben, Lisa Gardner, and Tana French. How do you move on when the world won’t let you?12:46: Claire Bingleystands alone at a bus stop12:47: Ted Conkaffey parks his car beside her12:52: The girl is missing . . .Six minutes in the wrong place at the wrong time—that’s all it took to ruin Sydney detective Ted Conkaffey’s life. Accused but not convicted of a brutal abduction, Ted is now a free man—and public enemy number one. Maintaining his innocence, he flees north to keep a low profile amidst the steamy, croc-infested wetlands of Crimson Lake.There, Ted’s lawyer introduces him to eccentric private investigator Amanda Pharrell, herself a convicted murderer. Not entirely convinced Amanda is a cold-blooded killer, Ted agrees to help with her investigation, a case full of deception and obsession, while secretly digging into her troubled past. The residents of Crimson Lake are watching the pair's every move . . . and the town offers no place to hide.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.By Walter Mosley. 1992
'Watts, 1956. Young women of easy virtue are being murdered and mutilated in especially repellent fashion. The police and the…
press pay little attention, as long as the victims are Negroes but when a young white woman is similarly killed, the powers that be demand action. Problem is that the powers that be have little entree to the neighborhood. Sounds like a case for Easy Rawlins - the unlicensed, unofficial and very off-the-books black detective. . . 'Los Angeles Times'Times, leaders and heroes change. . . It seems somehow fitting that Bill Clinton's favorite do-gooder is Easy Rawlins, a savvy, down-to-earth African-American private eye based in Los Angeles. In White Butterfly, good-time girls, corrupt politicians and other crime-novel fixtures are all in place. But Walter Mosley's writing hums with the particular rhythms and blues of the black American experience. What makes these books special is their vivid portrayal of life in the side streets where Philip Marlow seldom ventured. 'TimeBy Ellery Queen. 1953
Beautiful actress Martha Lawrence has a problem. Her once loving husband, Dirk, has become violent and controlling, and she doesn't…
know why. When she reaches out to their friend, mystery-solver Ellery Queen for help, Dirk interrupts their meeting in a drunken rage. He is convinced that the two are having an affair.Martha needs Ellery's help to convince Dirk that she's never cheated and never will. But from the clues he uncovers, it looks as if Martha might be two-timing after all. If Dirk is a cuckold, is his anger justifiable? And who is responsible if it results in murder?Ellery must figure out who is responsible for crippling a marriage before someone gets killed in the name of love.From his first appearance in print in 1929, Ellery Queen became one of America’s most famous and beloved fictional detectives. Over the course of nearly half a century, Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee, the duo writing team known as Ellery Queen, won the prestigious Edgar Award multiple times, and their contributions to the mystery genre were recognized with a Grand Master Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Mystery Writers of America. Their fair-play mysteries won over fans due to their intricate puzzles that challenged the reader to solve the mystery alongside the brilliant detective. Queen’s stories were among the first to dominate the earliest days of radio, film, and television. Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, which the writers founded and edited, became the world’s most influential and acclaimed crime fiction magazine.By Ellery Queen. 2000
When a popular singer goes from retired to dead the day before New Year's Eve, Ellery Queen is certain it’s…
murder. Luckily, just before she died, the victim managed to scribble out a single mysterious word: F A C E. Unfortunately, no one knows what it means.With the help of a new acquaintance, Inspector Harry Burke from Scotland, Queen uncovers even more baffling clues written in invisible ink. Enter the beautiful, discarded conquests of the dead singer's playboy husband, who prove a dangerous distraction for both Queen and Burke. Will erotic temptation derail the investigation? If it does, hearts will be broken, and what's worse -- someone will get away with murder.By Lissa Kasey. 2016
Sequel to Model CitizenHaven Investigations: Book TwoThings are going well for androgynous model Ollie Petroskovic, ex-Marine Kade Alme, and their…
business, Haven Investigations, until rock star Jacob Elias shows up in need of their services... and trouble follows. Jacob is a playboy with a serious penchant for kink, slaves, and sex toys. He's also Ollie's ex--and all that implies. With the media exploiting his personal life, a stalker sending blood-soaked "gifts," a bumbling security team, and a family he can't trust as far as he could throw them, Jacob is in desperate need of a bodyguard for his latest tour, and Kade can't refuse. While Kade deals with new doubts about his partnership with Ollie and struggles with reminders of his war injuries, Jacob's stalker escalates from blackmail and threats to murder. As Kade and Ollie work to keep Jacob safe and find the culprit behind the attack, a web of family secrets, lies, and abuse slowly emerges, leading up to a final confrontation that they might not walk away from--and that will have lasting repercussions for Kade and his relationship with Ollie.By Kc Burn. 2012
Toronto Tales: Book TwoDetective Ivan Bekker has hit rock bottom. Not only is he recovering from a bad breakup with…
a cheating boyfriend, he's also involved in a drug bust gone bad. Ivan had to kill a man, and his friend was shot and is now fighting for his life. Though Ivan is under investigation for his part in the shooting, his boss sends him on an off-the-books undercover operation to close the case. The timing is critical--this could be their chance to plug a leak in the department. Off-balance and without backup, Ivan finds himself playing a recent divorcé and becoming Parker Wakefield's roommate. He finds it hard to believe that sweet Parker could possibly be a criminal, much less have ties to a Russian mafia drug-trafficking operation, and Ivan lets down his guard. His affection is unprofessional, but Parker is irresistible. When Ivan comes across clear evidence of Parker's criminal involvement, he has to choose: protect their relationship, regardless of the consequences, or save his career and arrest the man he loves.By Gordon Mcalpine. 2015
"Woman with a Blue Pencil is a brilliantly structured labyrinth of a novel--something of an enigma wrapped in a mystery,…
postmodernist in its experimental bravado and yet satisfyingly well-grounded in the Los Angeles of its World War II era. Gordon McAlpine has imagined a totally unique work of 'mystery' fiction--one that Kafka, Borges, and Nabokov, as well as Dashiell Hammett, would have appreciated." --JOYCE CAROL OATESWhat becomes of a character cut from a writer's working manuscript? On the eve of Pearl Harbor, Sam Sumida, a Japanese-American academic, has been thrust into the role of amateur P.I., investigating his wife's murder, which has been largely ignored by the LAPD. Grief stricken by her loss, disoriented by his ill-prepared change of occupation, the worst is yet to come, Sam discovers that, inexplicably, he has become not only unrecognizable to his former acquaintances but that all signs of his existence (including even the murder he's investigating) have been erased. Unaware that he is a discarded, fictional creation, he resumes his investigation in a world now characterized not only by his own sense of isolation but by wartime fear. Meantime, Sam's story is interspersed with chapters from a pulp spy novel that features an L.A.-based Korean P.I. with jingoistic and anti-Japanese, post December 7th attitudes - the revised, politically and commercially viable character for whom Sumida has been excised. Behind it all is the ambitious, 20-year-old Nisei author who has made the changes, despite the relocation of himself and his family to a Japanese internment camp. And, looming above, is his book editor in New York, who serves as both muse and manipulator to the young author--the woman with the blue pencil, a new kind of femme fatale. From the Trade Paperback edition."She was a dangerous girl and people think she'll be a dangerous woman." Nonie Blake is back home from a…
mental institution where she has spent the last twenty years, and people in Jarrett Creek are worried. Maybe too worried, for within a week of her return, Nonie is murdered. Chief Samuel Craddock thinks the only possible suspects are members of her tight-lipped family. Ever since Nonie tried to kill her sister when she was fourteen and was sent away to the institution, the family has kept to itself. Clues are scarce and Craddock is stumped. So he checks with therapists at the mental hospital to see whether they can add anything useful to his investigation. But he discovers that she has not been there for ten years. Now Craddock has to find out where Nonie has been all this time. Soon Craddock finds himself dealing not only with murder, but layers of deception and secrets, and in the midst of it all--a new deputy, one Maria Trevino, sent by the sheriff to beef up security in the small Texas town.From the Trade Paperback edition.By Brian Panowich. 2015
"[Panowich] pulls off [a] daunting undertaking with astounding success . . . The storytelling is mesmerizing, with virtually every chapter…
set in a different timeline and focused on a single character, but the sense of immediacy carries over into each era. And while the violence is shocking in its coldhearted brutality, it's as aesthetically choreographed as any ballet."--Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review"Brian Panowich stamps words on the page as if they've been blasted from the barrel of a shotgun, and as with a shotgun blast, no one is safe from the scattered fragments of history that impale the people of Bull Mountain."--Wiley Cash, New York Times-bestselling author of This Dark Road to Mercy From a remarkable new voice in Southern fiction, a multigenerational saga of crime, family, and vengeance. Clayton Burroughs comes from a long line of outlaws. For generations, the Burroughs clan has made its home on Bull Mountain in North Georgia, running shine, pot, and meth over six state lines, virtually untouched by the rule of law. To distance himself from his family's criminal empire, Clayton took the job of sheriff in a neighboring community to keep what peace he can. But when a federal agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms shows up at Clayton's office with a plan to shut down the mountain, his hidden agenda will pit brother against brother, test loyalties, and could lead Clayton down a path to self-destruction. In a sweeping narrative spanning decades and told from alternating points of view, the novel brilliantly evokes the atmosphere of the mountain and its inhabitants: forbidding, loyal, gritty, and ruthless. A story of family--the lengths men will go to protect it, honor it, or in some cases destroy it--Bull Mountain is an incredibly assured debut that heralds a major new talent in fiction.From the Hardcover edition.By Hallie Ephron. 2015
From the award-winning author of There Was an Old Woman comes a mystery tinged with Hollywood glamour, set in a…
town where fame and infamy are often interchangeableLos Angeles, 1985. When Deirdre Unger makes the drive from San Diego to Beverly Hills to help her father put his dilapidated house on the market, she's expecting to deal with his usual kvetching and dark moods. But she gets a lot more than she expected. . . . In a cruel Sunset Boulevard-in a twist, Deirdre arrives home to find her father facedown in his too-small swimming pool--dead.At first, Deirdre assumes her father's death was a tragic accident. But the longer she stays in town, the more Deirdre begins to suspect that everything isn't as open-and-closed as she first presumed. The sudden resurfacing of Deirdre's childhood BFF Joelen Nichol--daughter of the famous and infamous Elenor "Bunny" Nichol--seems like more than a coincidence. Back in 1963, Joelen confessed to killing her movie-star mother's boyfriend. Deirdre was at the Nichols' house the night of the murder, which was also the night she suffered her own personal tragedy. Could all these events be connected?As Deirdre digs deeper into the past, she becomes increasingly convinced that her father's death is merely the deadly third act in a story that has long been in development. And if she isn't careful, she might be its final victim.By Robert Palmer. 2015
"Do you think you know what your own mother might do? The Survivors is an up-close-and-personal mystery--the best suspense I've…
read this year. It will haunt you." --DIANA GABALDON, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of the Outlander seriesPsychologist Cal Henderson has a successful practice in Washington, DC, and big plans for the future. But he can't escape a terrible secret. When he was a boy, his mother murdered his father and two brothers and severely wounded Cal's best friend, Scottie Glass. Desperate to keep the nightmare at bay, Cal has turned his back on everything that happened that night. On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the killings, Scottie shows up at Cal's office--edgy, paranoid, but somehow still the loveable kid he once was. Though their lives have taken very different paths, they both believe Cal's mother couldn't have been a murderer. She loved them too much, no matter what dark place she found herself in. They set off to dig up the real story. Cal uncovers one shocking secret after another about his family. The trail leads to a shady defense contractor, a scheming US Attorney, and, ultimately a billionaire with the kind of power and connections that can only be found in Washington. But Cal is paying a price. The memories he has avoided for so long have come flooding back, sending him into a tailspin from which he may never recover.From the Trade Paperback edition.