The father of modern detectivesAs punctilious as Poirot, as Miss Marple and as sharp as Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown ranks higher then all of them in the pantheon of literary sleuths. For the confessional this unassuming, innocent little priest has gained a deep intuitive knowledge of the paradoxes of human nature. So when murder, mayhem and mystery stalk smart society, only father Brown can be counted upon to discover the startling truth.The most comprehensive paperback edition available, with introduction and chronology of Chesterton's life and times.
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9780460873956
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Book
Dorothy L. Sayers
By Sayers, Dorothy L
A sure treat for Dorothy L. Sayers's legions of fans, The Complete Stories is the ultimate collectible. This delightfully gruesome collection captures all of Sayers's short stories in one volume. The tantalizing puzzles and baffling cases will provide mystery lovers with a sumptuous feast of criminal doings and all those amusing and appalling things that happen on the way to the gallows.
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9780060084615
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Paperback
Aunt Dimity Down Under
By Atherton, Nancy
The original supernatural sleuth is back in the latest cozy Aunt Dimity mystery A shock wave rocks Lori Shepherd's world when she hears that her beloved neighbors, Ruth and Louise Pym, may be dying. Bracing herself for a final farewell, Lori instead receives a request from the eccentric sisters: Find their long-lost brother before it's too late. Aubrey Pym is a wicked scoundrel who was banished from his family long ago; and much to Lori's surprise, she must travel all the way to New Zealand to find him. In granting her dear friends' dying wish, Lori sets out on a journey full of surprises. And with the help of a charming Kiwi and the otherworldly guidance of Aunt Dimity, Lori goes Down Under to search for the mysterious Aubrey, unraveling a web of secrets that has haunted the Pym family for generations. Nancy Atherton and her Aunt Dimity series have a dedicated fan base that eagerly awaits each new installment. With its exotic setting, endearing characters, and paranormal storyline, Aunt Dimity Down Under is sure to be a hit with loyal readers and new fans who are just discovering Aunt Dimity.
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9780670021444
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Print book
Case Histories
By Atkinson, Kate
Case one: A little girl goes missing in the night. Case two: A beautiful young office worker falls victim to a maniac's apparently random attack. Case three: A new mother finds herself trapped in a hell of her own making - with a very needy baby and a very demanding husband - until a fit of rage creates a grisly, bloody escape.Thirty years after the first incident, as private investigator Jackson Brodie begins investigating all three cases, startling connections and discoveries emerge . . .
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9780316010702
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Paperback
Death of a Charming Man
By Beaton, M C
All Sergeant Hamish Macbeth wants to do is fish and drink coffee with his fiance. Then a mysterious stranger moves into the neighboring village--a rich, unmarried heartbreaker, causing rivalry among the local women. It is amusing until death threats, assault and murder shatter the tranquil countryside. Hamish must investigate the darker side of love and desire.
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9780446403382
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Paperback
Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage
By Beaton, M. C.
After her first husband, Jimmy Raisin, stops her wedding and she is left jilted at the altar, he is found strangled to death, and Agatha Raisin must prove her innocence along with that of her intended. Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage is a mystery filled with murder and mayhem, from bestselling author M.C. Beaton.
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9780312961862
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Mass Market Paperback
A Spoonful of Poison
By Beaton, M C
Agatha Raisin's detective agency has become so successful that now all she wants is some R&R. But as soon as she cuts back her hours, Agatha remembers that when she has too much quality time, she doesn't know what to do with it. So it doesn't take much for the vicar of a nearby village to persuade her to help publicize the church fte-especially when the fair's organizer, George Selby, happens to be a gorgeous widower. Problem is: Several of the offerings in the jam-tasting booth turn out to be poisoned...and the festive family event soon becomes a murder scene. Now Agatha must uncover the truth behind the jam tampering and expose the nasty secrets lurking in the seemingly innocent village-all while falling for handsome George, who may just have some secrets of his own.A Spoonful of Poison is sure to delight fans of the bestselling Agatha Raisin mystery series by M.C. Beaton.
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9780312943509
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Book
Murphy's Law
By Bowen, Rhys
From the creator of the much-loved Constable Evan Evans mysteries comes a colorful new series set in turn-of-the-century New York City. When spirited redhead Molly Murphy was growing up a peasant on the coast of Ireland she always imagined there was something more in store for her. She couldn't have known how right she was until the day she became a murderer, albeit in self-defense. Under drastic circumstances, Molly is forced to strike out into a new world. With the police right behind her, Molly's only chance at escape is a false identity and a steamship that will take her far, far away: to America. When her ship sails into New York Harbor, with the majestic figure of the Statue of Liberty providing comfort and inspiration, Molly is sure her whole life is in front of her. But she's got one last hurdle to clear: Ellis Island. She is just one among thousands of immigrants on the tiny island, awaiting their fate with anxiety and hope. Unfortunately for Molly, before she is able to leave the island a man is brutally murdered, his throat cut from ear to ear, and coincidence and fate make her a suspect in a crime she didn't commit. Under a cloud of suspicion, and due largely to a growing mutual attraction between Molly and the handsome police captain in charge of the case, she is allowed to leave Ellis Island for Manhattan. Unfortunately, she's got a mission she couldn't have anticipated: clear her own name of murder. Alone in a new country with no one to lean on, Molly hits the vibrant streets of New York intent on finding out what really happened. After all, if she can't, she'll be sent back to Ireland, where the dreaded gallows await. With the sweeping skyline of 19th century New York and the gritty, pulsating underworld of recently arrived immigrants forming a vivid backdrop, Rhys Bowen transports readers back in time to America's not-so-distant past. The first entry in the Molly Murphy series is a fascinating look at our immigrant history as well as an intensely absorbing page-turner.
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9780312282066
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Hardcover
The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag
By Bradley, Alan
Flavia de Luce, a dangerously smart eleven-year-old with a passion for chemistry and a genius for solving murders, thinks that her days of crime-solving in the bucolic English hamlet of Bishop's Lacey are over - until beloved puppeteer Rupert Porson has his own strings sizzled in an unfortunate rendezvous with electricity. But who'd do such a thing, and why? Does the madwoman who lives in Gibbet Wood know more than she's letting on? What about Porson's charming but erratic assistant? All clues point toward a suspicious death years earlier and a case the local constables can't solve - without Flavia's help. But in getting so close to who's secretly pulling the strings of this dance of death, has our precocious heroine finally gotten in way over her head?
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9780385343459
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Paperback
Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders
By Brandreth, Gyles
Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders opens in 1890, at a glamorous party hosted by the Duke and Duchess of Albemarle. All of London's high society - including the Prince of Wales - are in attendance at what promises to be the event of the season. Yet Oscar Wilde is more interested in another party guest, Rex LaSalle, a young actor who claims to be a vampire. But the entertaining evening ends in tragedy when the duchess is found murdered - with two tiny puncture marks on her throat. Desperate to avoid scandal and panic, the Prince asks Oscar and his friend Arthur Conan Doyle to investigate the crime. What they discover threatens to destroy the very heart of the royal family. Told through diary entries, newspaper clippings, telegrams, and letters, Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders is a richly atmospheric mystery that is sure to captivate and entertain.
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9781439153697
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Print book
Murder in the Museum
By Brett, Simon
When a human skeleton is found buried on the grounds of the famed Bracketts House--the historic home of the author Esmond Chadleigh--Carole Seddon and Jude must determine whether the beloved writer's sword was mightier than his pen...and whether the snobbish, squabbling trustees of Bracketts House have something to hide....
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9780425190432
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Print book
Blotto, Twinks and the Ex-King's Daughter
By Brett, Simon
It's that glorious period between the two world wars, and the exiled king of Mitteleuropa is visiting the ancestral home of the Duke of Tawcester. When the ex-king's daughter is kidnapped, noblesse obliges the Duke's handsome, brave, and rather stupid son (known to all as Blotto) to drive off to the rescue. Luckily, he's aided by his brilliant sister, Twinks. Plus, he's got a really swell car.
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9781934609699
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Paperback
The Sittaford Mystery
By Christie, Agatha
M-U-R-D-E-R. It began as an innocent parlor game intended to while away the hours on a bitter winter night. But the message that appeared before the amateur occultists snowbound at the Sittaford House was spelled out as loud and clear as a scream. Of course, the notion that they had foretold doom was pure bunk. Wasn't it? And the discovery of a corpse was pure coincidence. Wasn't it? If they're to discover the answer to this baffling murder, perhaps they should play again. But a journey into the spirit world could prove terribly dangerous--especially when the killer is lurking in this one.
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9780312979812
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Paperback
Sleeping Murder
By Christie, Agatha
A young bride is having trouble settling in to their home. Feelings of unnatural dread are taking their toll. And when Miss Marple investigates, she learns how truthful-and terrifying-the imagination can be.
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9780451200198
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Paperback
Gagged & Bound
By Cooper, Natasha
Barrister Trish Maguire tackles a thirty-year-old terrorism case when distinguished biographer, Beatrice Bowman, hires her to fight a libel claim by a new ennobled member of the House of Lords who says she misidentified him as one of the terrorists who killed a busload of young children. Meanwhile, Trish's old friend, Inspector Caro Lyalt, faces an impossible decision---blow the whistle that could end a colleague's career (and jeopardize her own) , or do nothing and never forgive herself. In the running for a fantastic new job within the police force, she learns that a South London crime family is paying off her biggest rival. The villains gag and suffocate anyone who tries to expose their secrets. If the allegations are false, she loses all hope of this job or any other, but if they are true and she does nothing, she'll live with the guilt forever. Trish is caught in the middle. As she and Caro help each other find the information they need, Caro's top informant is shot. Then the body of a young woman turns up in a park, bound, gagged, and suffocated with all the trademarks of a mob killing. And someone is trying to use Trish's twelve-year-old brother to force her to drop her inquiry. Picking her way through the maze of lies and threats, she brings danger terrifyingly close to herself and the people she loves.In her seventh thrilling Trish Maguire mystery, Natasha Cooper explores the full destructive power of the wrong words spoken at the wrong time.
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9780312349219
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Book
The Victim in Victoria Station
By Dams, Jeanne M.
Dorothy Martin's wedded bliss could only be improved if her husband didn't have to go gallivanting all over the world, advising local police on new procedure. Dorothy's life could only be improved if she didn't keep stumbling across the recently-and criminally-deceased.
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9780802733375
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Print book
Send a Fax to the Kasbah
By Dunnett, Dorothy
When a bomb at Kingsley Conglomerates sends upwardly mobile Executive Secretary Wendy Helmann and her mother, Kingsley's Chairman, to Morocco, the two must endure races on horseback, murder, and mayhem. 10,000 first printing.
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9780151808120
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Book
Ten Lords A-Leaping
By Edwards, Ruth Dudley
The House of Lords will never be the same again. Disinclined to watch her language or moderate her manners, Jack Troutbeck, assisted by her old friend Robert Amiss, plots vigorously with others to scupper an anti-hunting bill of which she violently disapproves. But she hadnt reckoned with the campaign of intimidation mounted by the animal activists and the attempt on the life of one of her allies, shortly followed by scenes of horrifying carnage amongst the peers...
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9781590584378
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Book
The Eyre Affair
By Fforde, Jasper
The first installment in Jasper Fforde's New York Times bestselling series of Thursday Next novels introduces literary detective Thursday Next and her alternate reality of literature-obsessed England - from the author of Early RiserFans of Douglas Adams and P. G. Wodehouse will love visiting Jasper Fforde's Great Britain, circa 1985, when time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice) , and literature is taken very, very seriously: it's a bibliophile's dream. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is business as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection. But when someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature and plucks Jane Eyre from the pages of Bronte's novel, Thursday is faced with the challenge of her career. Fforde's ingenious fantasy - enhanced by a Web site that re-creates the world of the novel - unites intrigue with English literature in a delightfully witty mix.
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9780142001806
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Paperback
Casino Royale
By Fleming, Ian
In the first of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, 007 declares war on Le Chiffre, French communist and paymaster of the Soviet murder organization SMERSH. The battle begins with a fifty-million-franc game of baccarat, gains momentum during Bond's fiery love affair with a sensuous lady spy, and reaches a chilling climax with fiendish torture at the hands of a master sadist. For incredible suspense, unexpected thrills, and extraordinary danger, nothing can beat James Bond in his inaugural adventure.
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9780142002025
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Paperback
Mistress of the Art of Death
By Franklin, Ariana
Sent to medieval Cambridge in order to exonerate a group of Jewish prisoners with financial ties to King Henry I, University of Salerno medical examiner Adelia and a group of companions struggle to avoid being accused of witchcraft and discover that the killer may be a former crusader. 150,00 first printing.
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9780399154140
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Hardcover
Dead Heat
By Francis, Dick
Death comes to the races in the brilliant new novel from the grand master of crime fiction, Dick Francis.
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9780399154768
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Print book
Confessor
By Gardner, John
Herbie Kruger is called out of retirement to investigate the death of Gus Keene, one of the best inquistors ever employed by the British Secret Intelligence Service, and uncovers some disturbing facts about Keene's past and interest in magic. 35,000 first printing. Tour.
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9781883402259
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Book
Faithful Unto Death
By Graham, Caroline
When Simone Hollingsworth fails to turn up at bell ringing practice, her fellow Fawcett Green villagers are neither surprised nor concerned. Unfailingly pleasant, extremely beautiful, and really rather dull, Simone has made her mark only as someone who has volunteered for too many activities in the community and stuck with none. It is only the Hollingsworths' neighbors, the vigilant Brockleys, who suspect the worst. They have noticed Simone's husband, Alan, behaving very strangely: slamming doors, burying boxes in the sun-baked garden, and keeping the curtains drawn to all. But even the Brockleys cannot suspect the true reason behind Simone's disappearance.
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9780312185770
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Book
Darkness, Darkness
By Harvey, John
The final Detective Charlie Resnick novel, from the Cartier Diamond Dagger winner and London Sunday Times bestselling author John Harvey. Thirty years ago, the British Miners' Strike threatened to tear england apart, turning neighbor against neighbor, husband against wife, father against son -- enmities which still smolder. Charlie Resnick, recently promoted to Detective Inspector and ambivalent, at best, about some of the police tactics used in the Strike, had run an surveillance-gathering unit at the heart of the dispute. Now, in virtual retirement, the discovery of the body of a young woman who disappeared during the Strike brings Resnick back to the front line to assist in the investigation into the woman's murder -- forcing him to confront his past -- in what will assuredly be his last case . . . as well as John's Harvey's final Charlie Resnick novel.
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9781605986166
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Print book
Gone
By Hayder, Mo
Now available in paperback from one of the most acclaimed authors in the thriller genre - praised as a "maestro of the sinister" by the New York Daily News - Mo Hayder delivers her most excruciatingly suspenseful novel to date. By turns thrilling and horrifying, Gone follows the investigation of a brilliant and twisted carjacker with a disturbing game to play.Detective Jack Caffery's newest case seems like a routine carjacking, a crime he's seen plenty of times before until he realizes the sickening truth: the thief wasn't after the car, but the 11-year-old girl in the backseat. Meanwhile police diver Sergeant Flea Marley is pursuing her own theory of the case, and what she finds in an abandoned, half-submerged tunnel could put her in grave danger. The carjacker is always a step ahead of the Major Crime Investigation Unit, and as the chances for his victims grow slimmer, Jack and Flea race to fit the pieces together in time.Gone is Mo Hayder at her terrifying best. Each dark and captivating twist reveals a new dimension to this tight-knit plot, burrowing deeper into the chilling and clever world Mo Hayder creates.
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9780802145703
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Paperback
The Killing Ground
By Higgins, Jack
Sean Dillon takes on a mission of mercy, in which he will be shown none. Intelligence operative Sean Dillon stops Caspar Rashid at Heathrow Airport?and is pulled into danger. The man?s daughter has been kidnapped by Rashid?s own father and taken to Iraq to be married to one of the Middle East?s most feared terrorists. Rashid begs Dillon for help?but he has no idea of the terrible chain of events he is about to unleash, nor of the danger he is about to face.
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9780399153808
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Print book
Ripley Under Water
By Highsmith, Patricia
Tom Ripley passes his leisured days at his French country estate tending the dahlias, practicing the harpsichord, and enjoying the company of his lovely wife, Heloise. Never mind the bloodstains on the basement floor.But some new neighbors have moved to Villeperce: the Pritchards, just arrived from America. they are a ghastly pair, with vulgar manners and even more vulgar taste. Most inconvenient, though, is their curiosity. Ripley does, after all, have a few things to hide. When menacing coincidences begin to occur, a spiraling contest of sinister hints and mutual terrorism ensues, resulting in one of Patricia Highsmith's most elegantly harrowing novels to date.
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9780679748090
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Paperback
The Clue is in the Pudding
By Kingsbury, Kate
The kitchen staff of the Pennyfoot Hotel is toiling away to prepare the finest meal for the guests on Christmas. And the plum pudding may very well be to die for ... Cecily Sinclair Baxter could use a Christmas miracle. Mrs. Chubb, the Pennyfoot's housekeeper, must travel up north for a family emergency, and Cecily needs a temporary replacement. The agency doesn't have much to offer on short notice during this busy time of year. But they have someone - Beatrice Tucker - who turns out to be more of a curse. She fights with just about everyone, including Archibald Armitage. Star of the London stage, Armitage is staying at the Pennyfoot this holiday season. His presence turns out to be a blessing after he rescues the stable manager's dog from drowning in the icy duck pond. But not everyone in Badgers End is a fan of the actor ... When Armitage drops dead after Beatrice serves him some plum pudding, everyone assumes the huffy housekeeper is the culprit. But as Cecily begins to investigate, the list of suspects grows, and solving this case may not be as easy as pie ... or pudding.
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9780425253274
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Paperback
Crowner's Quest
By Knight, Bernard
On Christmas Eve in 1194, Sir John de Wolfe gratefully escapes a party being given by his wife to examine the body of a canon who has been found hanged. Suicide is suspected, but it is soon apparent that there is far more to this case than meets the eye. As always, his investigations are hampered by his brother-in-law, the sheriff Sir Richard de Revelle. But John must tread carefully, for it is not merely petty revenge that Richard has in mind this time - he is plotting treason and John is getting far too close to the truth for comfort.
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9780743492072
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Paperback
The Red Dahlia
By Plante, Lynda La
Detective Anna Travis is working on a horrific, brutal murder case that has created a media frenzy. The victim, Louise Pennel, a 24-year-old, single, 'fun-loving' girl, was last seen in a London night club wearing a sequinned mini-dress and a red rose in her hair. In an eerie mirror image of the famous LA murder case of Elizabeth Short in the l930s known as the Black Dahlia, her body was found dumped by the River Thames...severed in half and brutalised beyond recognition. Anna Travis must summon all the strength and guile for which she became so well known in ABOVE SUSPICION to hunt down this sadistic killer.
Publisher: n/a
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9781416542834
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Hardcover
The House Sitter
By Lovesey, Peter
"Peter Lovesey loves strong women, cerebral killers and diabolical puzzles - the very ingredients that make The House Sitter one of the most cunning mysteries in his Inspector Diamond series." - Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review "True wit is the hallmark of the classic British mystery, and Peter Lovesey delivers it, and a lot more in The House Sitter. . . . A literate and delightful mystery." - The Baltimore Sun A woman is found strangled on a beach in Sussex. It takes police 12 days to discover she was a top profiler for the National Crime Faculty. Why was she killed? And why is the NCF thwarting Detective Peter Diamond's efforts to unmask her murderer?From the Trade Paperback edition.
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9781569473269
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Print book
Wicked Autumn
By Malliet, G.m.
One of The Boston Globes Best Mysteries of 2011 One of Library Journals Best Mystery Books of 2011 . "Hugely funny, exquisitely well written, a tongue-in-cheek village mystery to be savored. G.M. Malliets arch tone and wry humor make her a writer to be treasured." -- Julia Spencer-Fleming, New York Times bestselling author"Rarely have I read descriptions that have left me gasping, in both their hilarity and their painful truth. A wonderful read." -- Louise Penny, New York Times bestselling author. The first in a delightful series, Wicked Autumn sharply skewers the quintessential English village in a cunningly modern version of the traditional drawing room mystery. Wickedly entertaining, its the perfect choice for Agatha Christie fans.. Max Tudor has settled happily into his post as vicar of St. Edwolds Church in Nether Monkslip. The quaint English village seems to be the perfect new home for Max, who has fled a harrowing past serving in MI5, the British domestic counter-intelligence agency. But his serenity is quickly shattered when the wildly unpopular president of the Womens Institute turns up dead at the Harvest Fayre. The death looks like an accident, but Maxs MI5 training quickly kicks in, and before long he suspects foul play. . *BONUS CONTENT: This edition of Wicked Autumn includes a new introduction from the author and a discussion guide
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9780312646974
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Hardcover
When in Rome
By Marsh, Ngaio
Commemorating 75 years since the Empress of Crime's first book, the ninth volume in a set of omnibus editions presenting the complete run of 32 Inspector Alleyn mysteries. CLUTCH OF CONSTABLES According to Chief Superintendent Roderick Alleyn, 'the Jampot' is an international crook who regards murder as 'tiresome and regrettable necessities'. But Alleyn's wife Troy has shared close quarters with the Jampot on a pleasure cruise along the peaceful rivers of 'Constable country' and knows something is badly wrong even before the two murders on board...WHEN IN ROME When their guide disappears mysteriously in the depths of a Roman Basilica, the members of Sebastian Mailer's tour group seem strangely unperturbed. But when a body is discovered in an Etruscan sarcophagus, Superintendent Alleyn, in Rome on the trail of an international drug racket, is very much concerned...TIED UP IN TINSEL When a much disliked visiting servant disappears without trace after playing Santa Claus, foul play is at once suspected - only suspicion falls not on the staff but on the unimpeachably respectable guests. When Superintendent Roderick Alleyn returns unexpectedly from a trip overseas, it is to find his beloved wife in the thick of an intriguing mystery...
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9780007328772
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Paperback
Murder at the Old Vicarage
By Mcgown, Jill
"A murder so baffling it might even have stumped Agatha Christie's Miss Marple...A lively, entertaining mystery."THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRERA killing blow on the head took the life of Graham Estow, but the vicar and his wife were hardly grieved. He was the son-in-law who had severely beaten their daughter Joanna a few months ago. Unfortunately, it appears that someone very close to the household is the murderer, though no one is about to confess to it.Leave it to that canny police duo of Inspector Lloyd and Detective Sergeant Judy Hill to wander through a maze of self-confessed killers, myraid motives, and their own frustrating partnerships, to find a murderer with a message....
Publisher: n/a
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9780449218198
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Book
Crisis Four
By Mcnab, Andy
He was ordered to track down a rogue colleague. Now British Intelligence agent Nick Stone and "runner" (and former lover) Sarah Greenwood have become the hunted, racing deeper into a dark, deadly conspiracy that will change the course of world events - and the lives of millions.With seventeen years of active service in the elite SAS force, Andy McNab writes from his own harrowing experiences. Packed with authentic procedural details, as relentless as a fast-burning fuse, Crisis Four is a thriller so gritty and real that you won't know where fact ends and fiction begins.
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9780345428080
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Book
Murderous Schemes
By Westlake, Donald E
When plotting a murder (figuratively speaking) , the mystery writer has at hand any number of M.O.s, including such tried and true conventions as the locked room, the unbreakable alibi, the double bluff, the mistaken identity, and many others. Indeed, one of the challenges (and great sources of pleasure) for a mystery writer is to visit a well-known plot construction--to try their hand at "the locked room" or "the caper"--perhaps to honor a writer or story they admire, perhaps to try to top them. Now, in Murderous Schemes, renowned mystery writer Donald E. Westlake and J. Madison Davis (current president of the International Association of Crime Writers) offer an illuminating look at eight such mystery conventions, illustrating each with five short stories written by some of the masters of the form. The resulting collection of forty tales spans a hundred and fifty years of crime fiction and includes virtually every style imaginable, from the hard-boiled detective story to the cozy armchair mystery. Here Westlake and Davis provide the avid mystery reader (and the budding mystery writer) with a glimpse behind the curtain, allowing them to compare for themselves how some of the great crime writers worked their magic on a particular convention. In the section "Armchair Detective," for instance, readers can compare works by Baroness Orczy ("The Mysterious Death on the Underground Railroad") , Agatha Christie ("The Sunningdale Mystery"--in which Christie makes passing reference to Baroness Orczy's story) , Ellery Queen ("The Adventure of Abraham Lincoln's Clue") , Margaret Maron ("Lieutenant Harald and the Impossible Gun") , and P. D. James ("Great Aunt-Allie's Flypapers") . These tales highlight not only differences between individual writers, but also the differences between American and British detective fiction, and they illuminate the evolution of crime writing over time. And the other chapters--including "I Confess," "Hoist on their Own Petards," "Over the Edge," and "Come Into My Parlor"--are equally enlightening. But the best thing about Murderous Schemes is certainly the stories themselves. Here is a glorious treasure chest of tales that cover every crime in the book, written by a who's who of crime fiction--Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins, Arthur Conan Doyle, G. K. Chesterton, Raymond Chandler, Ellery Queen, Dorothy L. Sayers, P. D. James, Chester Himes, Edward D. Hoch, and Lawrence Block, to name but a few. Bringing together a century and a half of superb crime stories, from Poe's 1844 tale of forced confession in "Thou Art the Man," to the modern mastery of Lawrence Block's story of thinly veiled evil, "Someday I'll Plant More Walnut Trees," Murderous Schemes is a glorious collection. It will inform and delight anyone who loves mystery and mayhem.
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9780195103212
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Print book
Death at Bishop's Keep
By Paige, Robin
Kate Adrleigh is everything the Victorian English gentlewoman is not--outspoken, free-thinking, American...and a writer of the frowned upon "penny-dreadfuls."Soon after her arrival in Essex, England, a body is unearthed in a nearby archeological dig--and Kate has the chance to not only research her latest story...but to begin her first case with amateur detective Sir Charles Sheridan.
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9780425164358
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Print book
Sovereign
By Sansom, C. J.
The third Matthew Shardlake Tudor Mystery by C. J. Sansom, the bestselling author of Winter in Madrid and DominionC. J . Sansom has garnered a wider audience and increased critical praise with each new novel published. His first book in the Matthew Shardlake series, Dissolution, was selected by P. D. James in The Wall Street Journal as one of her top five all-time favorite books. Now in Sovereign, Shardlake faces the most terrifying threat in the age of Tudor England: imprisonment int he Tower of London.Shardlake and his loyal assistant, Jack Barak, find themselves embroiled in royal intrigue when a plot against King Henry VIII is uncovered in York and a dangerous conspirator they've been charged with transporting to London is connected to the death of a local glazer.
Publisher: n/a
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9780143113171
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Paperback
Boudica
By Scott, Manda
Dreaming the Eagle is the first part of the gloriously imagined epic trilogy of the life of Boudica.Boudica means Bringer of Victory (from the early Celtic word "boudeg") . She is the last defender of the Celtic culture in Britain; the only woman openly to lead her warriors into battle and to stand successfully against the might of Imperial Rome - and triumph.It is 33 AD and eleven-year-old Breaca (later named Boudica) , the red-haired daughter of one of the leaders of the Eceni tribe, is on the cusp between girl and womanhood. She longs to be a Dreamer, a mystical leader who can foretell the future, but having killed the man who has attacked and killed her mother, she has proven herself a warrior. Dreaming the Eagle is also the story of the two men Boudica loves most: Caradoc, outstanding warrior and inspirational leader; and Bn, her half-brother, who longs to be a warrior, though he is manifestly a Dreamer, possibly the finest in his tribe's history. Bn becomes the Druid whose eventual return to the Celts is Boudica's salvation.Dreaming the Eagle is full of brilliantly realised, luminous scenes as the narrative sweeps effortlessly from the epic - where battle scenes are huge, bloody, and action-packed - to the intimate. Manda Scott plunges us into the unforgettable world of tribal Britain in the years before the Roman invasion: a world of druids and dreamers and the magic of the gods where the natural world is as much a character as any of the people who live within it, a world of warriors who fight for honour as much as victory, a world of passion, courage and spectacular heroism pitched against overwhelming odds.Dreaming the Eagle stunningly recreates the roots of a story so powerful its impact has lasted through the ages.
The Best of Father Brown
By Chesterton, G K
The father of modern detectivesAs punctilious as Poirot, as Miss Marple and as sharp as Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown ranks higher then all of them in the pantheon of literary sleuths. For the confessional this unassuming, innocent little priest has gained a deep intuitive knowledge of the paradoxes of human nature. So when murder, mayhem and mystery stalk smart society, only father Brown can be counted upon to discover the startling truth.The most comprehensive paperback edition available, with introduction and chronology of Chesterton's life and times.
Dorothy L. Sayers
By Sayers, Dorothy L
A sure treat for Dorothy L. Sayers's legions of fans, The Complete Stories is the ultimate collectible. This delightfully gruesome collection captures all of Sayers's short stories in one volume. The tantalizing puzzles and baffling cases will provide mystery lovers with a sumptuous feast of criminal doings and all those amusing and appalling things that happen on the way to the gallows.
Aunt Dimity Down Under
By Atherton, Nancy
The original supernatural sleuth is back in the latest cozy Aunt Dimity mystery A shock wave rocks Lori Shepherd's world when she hears that her beloved neighbors, Ruth and Louise Pym, may be dying. Bracing herself for a final farewell, Lori instead receives a request from the eccentric sisters: Find their long-lost brother before it's too late. Aubrey Pym is a wicked scoundrel who was banished from his family long ago; and much to Lori's surprise, she must travel all the way to New Zealand to find him. In granting her dear friends' dying wish, Lori sets out on a journey full of surprises. And with the help of a charming Kiwi and the otherworldly guidance of Aunt Dimity, Lori goes Down Under to search for the mysterious Aubrey, unraveling a web of secrets that has haunted the Pym family for generations. Nancy Atherton and her Aunt Dimity series have a dedicated fan base that eagerly awaits each new installment. With its exotic setting, endearing characters, and paranormal storyline, Aunt Dimity Down Under is sure to be a hit with loyal readers and new fans who are just discovering Aunt Dimity.
Case Histories
By Atkinson, Kate
Case one: A little girl goes missing in the night. Case two: A beautiful young office worker falls victim to a maniac's apparently random attack. Case three: A new mother finds herself trapped in a hell of her own making - with a very needy baby and a very demanding husband - until a fit of rage creates a grisly, bloody escape.Thirty years after the first incident, as private investigator Jackson Brodie begins investigating all three cases, startling connections and discoveries emerge . . .
Death of a Charming Man
By Beaton, M C
All Sergeant Hamish Macbeth wants to do is fish and drink coffee with his fiance. Then a mysterious stranger moves into the neighboring village--a rich, unmarried heartbreaker, causing rivalry among the local women. It is amusing until death threats, assault and murder shatter the tranquil countryside. Hamish must investigate the darker side of love and desire.
Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage
By Beaton, M. C.
After her first husband, Jimmy Raisin, stops her wedding and she is left jilted at the altar, he is found strangled to death, and Agatha Raisin must prove her innocence along with that of her intended. Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage is a mystery filled with murder and mayhem, from bestselling author M.C. Beaton.
A Spoonful of Poison
By Beaton, M C
Agatha Raisin's detective agency has become so successful that now all she wants is some R&R. But as soon as she cuts back her hours, Agatha remembers that when she has too much quality time, she doesn't know what to do with it. So it doesn't take much for the vicar of a nearby village to persuade her to help publicize the church fte-especially when the fair's organizer, George Selby, happens to be a gorgeous widower. Problem is: Several of the offerings in the jam-tasting booth turn out to be poisoned...and the festive family event soon becomes a murder scene. Now Agatha must uncover the truth behind the jam tampering and expose the nasty secrets lurking in the seemingly innocent village-all while falling for handsome George, who may just have some secrets of his own.A Spoonful of Poison is sure to delight fans of the bestselling Agatha Raisin mystery series by M.C. Beaton.
Murphy's Law
By Bowen, Rhys
From the creator of the much-loved Constable Evan Evans mysteries comes a colorful new series set in turn-of-the-century New York City. When spirited redhead Molly Murphy was growing up a peasant on the coast of Ireland she always imagined there was something more in store for her. She couldn't have known how right she was until the day she became a murderer, albeit in self-defense. Under drastic circumstances, Molly is forced to strike out into a new world. With the police right behind her, Molly's only chance at escape is a false identity and a steamship that will take her far, far away: to America. When her ship sails into New York Harbor, with the majestic figure of the Statue of Liberty providing comfort and inspiration, Molly is sure her whole life is in front of her. But she's got one last hurdle to clear: Ellis Island. She is just one among thousands of immigrants on the tiny island, awaiting their fate with anxiety and hope. Unfortunately for Molly, before she is able to leave the island a man is brutally murdered, his throat cut from ear to ear, and coincidence and fate make her a suspect in a crime she didn't commit. Under a cloud of suspicion, and due largely to a growing mutual attraction between Molly and the handsome police captain in charge of the case, she is allowed to leave Ellis Island for Manhattan. Unfortunately, she's got a mission she couldn't have anticipated: clear her own name of murder. Alone in a new country with no one to lean on, Molly hits the vibrant streets of New York intent on finding out what really happened. After all, if she can't, she'll be sent back to Ireland, where the dreaded gallows await. With the sweeping skyline of 19th century New York and the gritty, pulsating underworld of recently arrived immigrants forming a vivid backdrop, Rhys Bowen transports readers back in time to America's not-so-distant past. The first entry in the Molly Murphy series is a fascinating look at our immigrant history as well as an intensely absorbing page-turner.
The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag
By Bradley, Alan
Flavia de Luce, a dangerously smart eleven-year-old with a passion for chemistry and a genius for solving murders, thinks that her days of crime-solving in the bucolic English hamlet of Bishop's Lacey are over - until beloved puppeteer Rupert Porson has his own strings sizzled in an unfortunate rendezvous with electricity. But who'd do such a thing, and why? Does the madwoman who lives in Gibbet Wood know more than she's letting on? What about Porson's charming but erratic assistant? All clues point toward a suspicious death years earlier and a case the local constables can't solve - without Flavia's help. But in getting so close to who's secretly pulling the strings of this dance of death, has our precocious heroine finally gotten in way over her head?
Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders
By Brandreth, Gyles
Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders opens in 1890, at a glamorous party hosted by the Duke and Duchess of Albemarle. All of London's high society - including the Prince of Wales - are in attendance at what promises to be the event of the season. Yet Oscar Wilde is more interested in another party guest, Rex LaSalle, a young actor who claims to be a vampire. But the entertaining evening ends in tragedy when the duchess is found murdered - with two tiny puncture marks on her throat. Desperate to avoid scandal and panic, the Prince asks Oscar and his friend Arthur Conan Doyle to investigate the crime. What they discover threatens to destroy the very heart of the royal family. Told through diary entries, newspaper clippings, telegrams, and letters, Oscar Wilde and the Vampire Murders is a richly atmospheric mystery that is sure to captivate and entertain.
Murder in the Museum
By Brett, Simon
When a human skeleton is found buried on the grounds of the famed Bracketts House--the historic home of the author Esmond Chadleigh--Carole Seddon and Jude must determine whether the beloved writer's sword was mightier than his pen...and whether the snobbish, squabbling trustees of Bracketts House have something to hide....
Blotto, Twinks and the Ex-King's Daughter
By Brett, Simon
It's that glorious period between the two world wars, and the exiled king of Mitteleuropa is visiting the ancestral home of the Duke of Tawcester. When the ex-king's daughter is kidnapped, noblesse obliges the Duke's handsome, brave, and rather stupid son (known to all as Blotto) to drive off to the rescue. Luckily, he's aided by his brilliant sister, Twinks. Plus, he's got a really swell car.
The Sittaford Mystery
By Christie, Agatha
M-U-R-D-E-R. It began as an innocent parlor game intended to while away the hours on a bitter winter night. But the message that appeared before the amateur occultists snowbound at the Sittaford House was spelled out as loud and clear as a scream. Of course, the notion that they had foretold doom was pure bunk. Wasn't it? And the discovery of a corpse was pure coincidence. Wasn't it? If they're to discover the answer to this baffling murder, perhaps they should play again. But a journey into the spirit world could prove terribly dangerous--especially when the killer is lurking in this one.
Sleeping Murder
By Christie, Agatha
A young bride is having trouble settling in to their home. Feelings of unnatural dread are taking their toll. And when Miss Marple investigates, she learns how truthful-and terrifying-the imagination can be.
Gagged & Bound
By Cooper, Natasha
Barrister Trish Maguire tackles a thirty-year-old terrorism case when distinguished biographer, Beatrice Bowman, hires her to fight a libel claim by a new ennobled member of the House of Lords who says she misidentified him as one of the terrorists who killed a busload of young children. Meanwhile, Trish's old friend, Inspector Caro Lyalt, faces an impossible decision---blow the whistle that could end a colleague's career (and jeopardize her own) , or do nothing and never forgive herself. In the running for a fantastic new job within the police force, she learns that a South London crime family is paying off her biggest rival. The villains gag and suffocate anyone who tries to expose their secrets. If the allegations are false, she loses all hope of this job or any other, but if they are true and she does nothing, she'll live with the guilt forever. Trish is caught in the middle. As she and Caro help each other find the information they need, Caro's top informant is shot. Then the body of a young woman turns up in a park, bound, gagged, and suffocated with all the trademarks of a mob killing. And someone is trying to use Trish's twelve-year-old brother to force her to drop her inquiry. Picking her way through the maze of lies and threats, she brings danger terrifyingly close to herself and the people she loves.In her seventh thrilling Trish Maguire mystery, Natasha Cooper explores the full destructive power of the wrong words spoken at the wrong time.
The Victim in Victoria Station
By Dams, Jeanne M.
Dorothy Martin's wedded bliss could only be improved if her husband didn't have to go gallivanting all over the world, advising local police on new procedure. Dorothy's life could only be improved if she didn't keep stumbling across the recently-and criminally-deceased.
Send a Fax to the Kasbah
By Dunnett, Dorothy
When a bomb at Kingsley Conglomerates sends upwardly mobile Executive Secretary Wendy Helmann and her mother, Kingsley's Chairman, to Morocco, the two must endure races on horseback, murder, and mayhem. 10,000 first printing.
Ten Lords A-Leaping
By Edwards, Ruth Dudley
The House of Lords will never be the same again. Disinclined to watch her language or moderate her manners, Jack Troutbeck, assisted by her old friend Robert Amiss, plots vigorously with others to scupper an anti-hunting bill of which she violently disapproves. But she hadnt reckoned with the campaign of intimidation mounted by the animal activists and the attempt on the life of one of her allies, shortly followed by scenes of horrifying carnage amongst the peers...
The Eyre Affair
By Fforde, Jasper
The first installment in Jasper Fforde's New York Times bestselling series of Thursday Next novels introduces literary detective Thursday Next and her alternate reality of literature-obsessed England - from the author of Early RiserFans of Douglas Adams and P. G. Wodehouse will love visiting Jasper Fforde's Great Britain, circa 1985, when time travel is routine, cloning is a reality (dodos are the resurrected pet of choice) , and literature is taken very, very seriously: it's a bibliophile's dream. England is a virtual police state where an aunt can get lost (literally) in a Wordsworth poem and forging Byronic verse is a punishable offense. All this is business as usual for Thursday Next, renowned Special Operative in literary detection. But when someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature and plucks Jane Eyre from the pages of Bronte's novel, Thursday is faced with the challenge of her career. Fforde's ingenious fantasy - enhanced by a Web site that re-creates the world of the novel - unites intrigue with English literature in a delightfully witty mix.
Casino Royale
By Fleming, Ian
In the first of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, 007 declares war on Le Chiffre, French communist and paymaster of the Soviet murder organization SMERSH. The battle begins with a fifty-million-franc game of baccarat, gains momentum during Bond's fiery love affair with a sensuous lady spy, and reaches a chilling climax with fiendish torture at the hands of a master sadist. For incredible suspense, unexpected thrills, and extraordinary danger, nothing can beat James Bond in his inaugural adventure.
Mistress of the Art of Death
By Franklin, Ariana
Sent to medieval Cambridge in order to exonerate a group of Jewish prisoners with financial ties to King Henry I, University of Salerno medical examiner Adelia and a group of companions struggle to avoid being accused of witchcraft and discover that the killer may be a former crusader. 150,00 first printing.
Dead Heat
By Francis, Dick
Death comes to the races in the brilliant new novel from the grand master of crime fiction, Dick Francis.
Confessor
By Gardner, John
Herbie Kruger is called out of retirement to investigate the death of Gus Keene, one of the best inquistors ever employed by the British Secret Intelligence Service, and uncovers some disturbing facts about Keene's past and interest in magic. 35,000 first printing. Tour.
Faithful Unto Death
By Graham, Caroline
When Simone Hollingsworth fails to turn up at bell ringing practice, her fellow Fawcett Green villagers are neither surprised nor concerned. Unfailingly pleasant, extremely beautiful, and really rather dull, Simone has made her mark only as someone who has volunteered for too many activities in the community and stuck with none. It is only the Hollingsworths' neighbors, the vigilant Brockleys, who suspect the worst. They have noticed Simone's husband, Alan, behaving very strangely: slamming doors, burying boxes in the sun-baked garden, and keeping the curtains drawn to all. But even the Brockleys cannot suspect the true reason behind Simone's disappearance.
Darkness, Darkness
By Harvey, John
The final Detective Charlie Resnick novel, from the Cartier Diamond Dagger winner and London Sunday Times bestselling author John Harvey. Thirty years ago, the British Miners' Strike threatened to tear england apart, turning neighbor against neighbor, husband against wife, father against son -- enmities which still smolder. Charlie Resnick, recently promoted to Detective Inspector and ambivalent, at best, about some of the police tactics used in the Strike, had run an surveillance-gathering unit at the heart of the dispute. Now, in virtual retirement, the discovery of the body of a young woman who disappeared during the Strike brings Resnick back to the front line to assist in the investigation into the woman's murder -- forcing him to confront his past -- in what will assuredly be his last case . . . as well as John's Harvey's final Charlie Resnick novel.
Gone
By Hayder, Mo
Now available in paperback from one of the most acclaimed authors in the thriller genre - praised as a "maestro of the sinister" by the New York Daily News - Mo Hayder delivers her most excruciatingly suspenseful novel to date. By turns thrilling and horrifying, Gone follows the investigation of a brilliant and twisted carjacker with a disturbing game to play.Detective Jack Caffery's newest case seems like a routine carjacking, a crime he's seen plenty of times before until he realizes the sickening truth: the thief wasn't after the car, but the 11-year-old girl in the backseat. Meanwhile police diver Sergeant Flea Marley is pursuing her own theory of the case, and what she finds in an abandoned, half-submerged tunnel could put her in grave danger. The carjacker is always a step ahead of the Major Crime Investigation Unit, and as the chances for his victims grow slimmer, Jack and Flea race to fit the pieces together in time.Gone is Mo Hayder at her terrifying best. Each dark and captivating twist reveals a new dimension to this tight-knit plot, burrowing deeper into the chilling and clever world Mo Hayder creates.
The Killing Ground
By Higgins, Jack
Sean Dillon takes on a mission of mercy, in which he will be shown none. Intelligence operative Sean Dillon stops Caspar Rashid at Heathrow Airport?and is pulled into danger. The man?s daughter has been kidnapped by Rashid?s own father and taken to Iraq to be married to one of the Middle East?s most feared terrorists. Rashid begs Dillon for help?but he has no idea of the terrible chain of events he is about to unleash, nor of the danger he is about to face.
Ripley Under Water
By Highsmith, Patricia
Tom Ripley passes his leisured days at his French country estate tending the dahlias, practicing the harpsichord, and enjoying the company of his lovely wife, Heloise. Never mind the bloodstains on the basement floor.But some new neighbors have moved to Villeperce: the Pritchards, just arrived from America. they are a ghastly pair, with vulgar manners and even more vulgar taste. Most inconvenient, though, is their curiosity. Ripley does, after all, have a few things to hide. When menacing coincidences begin to occur, a spiraling contest of sinister hints and mutual terrorism ensues, resulting in one of Patricia Highsmith's most elegantly harrowing novels to date.
The Clue is in the Pudding
By Kingsbury, Kate
The kitchen staff of the Pennyfoot Hotel is toiling away to prepare the finest meal for the guests on Christmas. And the plum pudding may very well be to die for ... Cecily Sinclair Baxter could use a Christmas miracle. Mrs. Chubb, the Pennyfoot's housekeeper, must travel up north for a family emergency, and Cecily needs a temporary replacement. The agency doesn't have much to offer on short notice during this busy time of year. But they have someone - Beatrice Tucker - who turns out to be more of a curse. She fights with just about everyone, including Archibald Armitage. Star of the London stage, Armitage is staying at the Pennyfoot this holiday season. His presence turns out to be a blessing after he rescues the stable manager's dog from drowning in the icy duck pond. But not everyone in Badgers End is a fan of the actor ... When Armitage drops dead after Beatrice serves him some plum pudding, everyone assumes the huffy housekeeper is the culprit. But as Cecily begins to investigate, the list of suspects grows, and solving this case may not be as easy as pie ... or pudding.
Crowner's Quest
By Knight, Bernard
On Christmas Eve in 1194, Sir John de Wolfe gratefully escapes a party being given by his wife to examine the body of a canon who has been found hanged. Suicide is suspected, but it is soon apparent that there is far more to this case than meets the eye. As always, his investigations are hampered by his brother-in-law, the sheriff Sir Richard de Revelle. But John must tread carefully, for it is not merely petty revenge that Richard has in mind this time - he is plotting treason and John is getting far too close to the truth for comfort.
The Red Dahlia
By Plante, Lynda La
Detective Anna Travis is working on a horrific, brutal murder case that has created a media frenzy. The victim, Louise Pennel, a 24-year-old, single, 'fun-loving' girl, was last seen in a London night club wearing a sequinned mini-dress and a red rose in her hair. In an eerie mirror image of the famous LA murder case of Elizabeth Short in the l930s known as the Black Dahlia, her body was found dumped by the River Thames...severed in half and brutalised beyond recognition. Anna Travis must summon all the strength and guile for which she became so well known in ABOVE SUSPICION to hunt down this sadistic killer.
The House Sitter
By Lovesey, Peter
"Peter Lovesey loves strong women, cerebral killers and diabolical puzzles - the very ingredients that make The House Sitter one of the most cunning mysteries in his Inspector Diamond series." - Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review "True wit is the hallmark of the classic British mystery, and Peter Lovesey delivers it, and a lot more in The House Sitter. . . . A literate and delightful mystery." - The Baltimore Sun A woman is found strangled on a beach in Sussex. It takes police 12 days to discover she was a top profiler for the National Crime Faculty. Why was she killed? And why is the NCF thwarting Detective Peter Diamond's efforts to unmask her murderer?From the Trade Paperback edition.
Wicked Autumn
By Malliet, G.m.
One of The Boston Globes Best Mysteries of 2011 One of Library Journals Best Mystery Books of 2011 . "Hugely funny, exquisitely well written, a tongue-in-cheek village mystery to be savored. G.M. Malliets arch tone and wry humor make her a writer to be treasured." -- Julia Spencer-Fleming, New York Times bestselling author"Rarely have I read descriptions that have left me gasping, in both their hilarity and their painful truth. A wonderful read." -- Louise Penny, New York Times bestselling author. The first in a delightful series, Wicked Autumn sharply skewers the quintessential English village in a cunningly modern version of the traditional drawing room mystery. Wickedly entertaining, its the perfect choice for Agatha Christie fans.. Max Tudor has settled happily into his post as vicar of St. Edwolds Church in Nether Monkslip. The quaint English village seems to be the perfect new home for Max, who has fled a harrowing past serving in MI5, the British domestic counter-intelligence agency. But his serenity is quickly shattered when the wildly unpopular president of the Womens Institute turns up dead at the Harvest Fayre. The death looks like an accident, but Maxs MI5 training quickly kicks in, and before long he suspects foul play. . *BONUS CONTENT: This edition of Wicked Autumn includes a new introduction from the author and a discussion guide
When in Rome
By Marsh, Ngaio
Commemorating 75 years since the Empress of Crime's first book, the ninth volume in a set of omnibus editions presenting the complete run of 32 Inspector Alleyn mysteries. CLUTCH OF CONSTABLES According to Chief Superintendent Roderick Alleyn, 'the Jampot' is an international crook who regards murder as 'tiresome and regrettable necessities'. But Alleyn's wife Troy has shared close quarters with the Jampot on a pleasure cruise along the peaceful rivers of 'Constable country' and knows something is badly wrong even before the two murders on board...WHEN IN ROME When their guide disappears mysteriously in the depths of a Roman Basilica, the members of Sebastian Mailer's tour group seem strangely unperturbed. But when a body is discovered in an Etruscan sarcophagus, Superintendent Alleyn, in Rome on the trail of an international drug racket, is very much concerned...TIED UP IN TINSEL When a much disliked visiting servant disappears without trace after playing Santa Claus, foul play is at once suspected - only suspicion falls not on the staff but on the unimpeachably respectable guests. When Superintendent Roderick Alleyn returns unexpectedly from a trip overseas, it is to find his beloved wife in the thick of an intriguing mystery...
Murder at the Old Vicarage
By Mcgown, Jill
"A murder so baffling it might even have stumped Agatha Christie's Miss Marple...A lively, entertaining mystery."THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRERA killing blow on the head took the life of Graham Estow, but the vicar and his wife were hardly grieved. He was the son-in-law who had severely beaten their daughter Joanna a few months ago. Unfortunately, it appears that someone very close to the household is the murderer, though no one is about to confess to it.Leave it to that canny police duo of Inspector Lloyd and Detective Sergeant Judy Hill to wander through a maze of self-confessed killers, myraid motives, and their own frustrating partnerships, to find a murderer with a message....
Crisis Four
By Mcnab, Andy
He was ordered to track down a rogue colleague. Now British Intelligence agent Nick Stone and "runner" (and former lover) Sarah Greenwood have become the hunted, racing deeper into a dark, deadly conspiracy that will change the course of world events - and the lives of millions.With seventeen years of active service in the elite SAS force, Andy McNab writes from his own harrowing experiences. Packed with authentic procedural details, as relentless as a fast-burning fuse, Crisis Four is a thriller so gritty and real that you won't know where fact ends and fiction begins.
Murderous Schemes
By Westlake, Donald E
When plotting a murder (figuratively speaking) , the mystery writer has at hand any number of M.O.s, including such tried and true conventions as the locked room, the unbreakable alibi, the double bluff, the mistaken identity, and many others. Indeed, one of the challenges (and great sources of pleasure) for a mystery writer is to visit a well-known plot construction--to try their hand at "the locked room" or "the caper"--perhaps to honor a writer or story they admire, perhaps to try to top them. Now, in Murderous Schemes, renowned mystery writer Donald E. Westlake and J. Madison Davis (current president of the International Association of Crime Writers) offer an illuminating look at eight such mystery conventions, illustrating each with five short stories written by some of the masters of the form. The resulting collection of forty tales spans a hundred and fifty years of crime fiction and includes virtually every style imaginable, from the hard-boiled detective story to the cozy armchair mystery. Here Westlake and Davis provide the avid mystery reader (and the budding mystery writer) with a glimpse behind the curtain, allowing them to compare for themselves how some of the great crime writers worked their magic on a particular convention. In the section "Armchair Detective," for instance, readers can compare works by Baroness Orczy ("The Mysterious Death on the Underground Railroad") , Agatha Christie ("The Sunningdale Mystery"--in which Christie makes passing reference to Baroness Orczy's story) , Ellery Queen ("The Adventure of Abraham Lincoln's Clue") , Margaret Maron ("Lieutenant Harald and the Impossible Gun") , and P. D. James ("Great Aunt-Allie's Flypapers") . These tales highlight not only differences between individual writers, but also the differences between American and British detective fiction, and they illuminate the evolution of crime writing over time. And the other chapters--including "I Confess," "Hoist on their Own Petards," "Over the Edge," and "Come Into My Parlor"--are equally enlightening. But the best thing about Murderous Schemes is certainly the stories themselves. Here is a glorious treasure chest of tales that cover every crime in the book, written by a who's who of crime fiction--Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins, Arthur Conan Doyle, G. K. Chesterton, Raymond Chandler, Ellery Queen, Dorothy L. Sayers, P. D. James, Chester Himes, Edward D. Hoch, and Lawrence Block, to name but a few. Bringing together a century and a half of superb crime stories, from Poe's 1844 tale of forced confession in "Thou Art the Man," to the modern mastery of Lawrence Block's story of thinly veiled evil, "Someday I'll Plant More Walnut Trees," Murderous Schemes is a glorious collection. It will inform and delight anyone who loves mystery and mayhem.
Death at Bishop's Keep
By Paige, Robin
Kate Adrleigh is everything the Victorian English gentlewoman is not--outspoken, free-thinking, American...and a writer of the frowned upon "penny-dreadfuls."Soon after her arrival in Essex, England, a body is unearthed in a nearby archeological dig--and Kate has the chance to not only research her latest story...but to begin her first case with amateur detective Sir Charles Sheridan.
Sovereign
By Sansom, C. J.
The third Matthew Shardlake Tudor Mystery by C. J. Sansom, the bestselling author of Winter in Madrid and DominionC. J . Sansom has garnered a wider audience and increased critical praise with each new novel published. His first book in the Matthew Shardlake series, Dissolution, was selected by P. D. James in The Wall Street Journal as one of her top five all-time favorite books. Now in Sovereign, Shardlake faces the most terrifying threat in the age of Tudor England: imprisonment int he Tower of London.Shardlake and his loyal assistant, Jack Barak, find themselves embroiled in royal intrigue when a plot against King Henry VIII is uncovered in York and a dangerous conspirator they've been charged with transporting to London is connected to the death of a local glazer.
Boudica
By Scott, Manda
Dreaming the Eagle is the first part of the gloriously imagined epic trilogy of the life of Boudica.Boudica means Bringer of Victory (from the early Celtic word "boudeg") . She is the last defender of the Celtic culture in Britain; the only woman openly to lead her warriors into battle and to stand successfully against the might of Imperial Rome - and triumph.It is 33 AD and eleven-year-old Breaca (later named Boudica) , the red-haired daughter of one of the leaders of the Eceni tribe, is on the cusp between girl and womanhood. She longs to be a Dreamer, a mystical leader who can foretell the future, but having killed the man who has attacked and killed her mother, she has proven herself a warrior. Dreaming the Eagle is also the story of the two men Boudica loves most: Caradoc, outstanding warrior and inspirational leader; and Bn, her half-brother, who longs to be a warrior, though he is manifestly a Dreamer, possibly the finest in his tribe's history. Bn becomes the Druid whose eventual return to the Celts is Boudica's salvation.Dreaming the Eagle is full of brilliantly realised, luminous scenes as the narrative sweeps effortlessly from the epic - where battle scenes are huge, bloody, and action-packed - to the intimate. Manda Scott plunges us into the unforgettable world of tribal Britain in the years before the Roman invasion: a world of druids and dreamers and the magic of the gods where the natural world is as much a character as any of the people who live within it, a world of warriors who fight for honour as much as victory, a world of passion, courage and spectacular heroism pitched against overwhelming odds.Dreaming the Eagle stunningly recreates the roots of a story so powerful its impact has lasted through the ages.