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Windswept House: A Vatican Novel
by Malachi Martin"In Biblical times they would have called him a prophet," said The Dallas Morning Newso f Malachi Martin. The Houston Chronicle dubbed him "one of the people most knowledgeable about the inner workings of the Vatican currently writing about the church." In Windswept House, this brilliant theologian and writer offers a gripping, provocative novel of faith and betrayal, power and conspiracy, within and without the walls of the Vatican. As the Cold War ends and the Soviet government collapses, a secret international association of political, religious, and financial leaders at last sees a clear path to a new world order--the establishment of a single global government and economy. Their modus operandi: taking control of the Roman Catholic Church by forcing the Pope's resignation and seizing power through a network of co-opted cardinals. Their perfect pawns: a pair of American brothers, one a lawyer and one a priest, scions of an old Texas family based at Windswept House, who will be placed as unknowing operatives within the Vatican. What the conspirators cannot know is that, while one brother will play along willingly, the other will become one of the Pope's closest allies--and that within their own ranks lies another, more secret group, with aims even more ambitious and deadly than their own. Complex and thrilling, set against a backdrop as broad as the world and as intimate as the most rarefied chambers of Vatican power and privilege, Windswept House is as vivid and immediate as today's headlines--and tomorrow's.
Snakeskin Shamisen
by Naomi HiraharaFrom Summer of the Big Bachi to Gasa-Gasa Girl, Naomi Hirahara’s acclaimed novels have featured one of mystery fiction’s most unique heroes: Mas Arai, a curmudgeonly L. A. gardener, Hiroshima survivor, and inveterate gambler. Few things get Mas more excited than gambling, so when he hears about a $500,000 win–from a novelty slot machine!–he’s torn between admiration and derision. But the stakes are quickly raised when the winner, a friend of Mas’s pal G. I. Hasuike, is found stabbed to death just days later. The last thing Mas wants to do is stick his nose in someone else’s business, but at G. I. ’s prodding he reluctantly agrees to follow the trail of a battered snakeskin shamisen (a traditional Okinawan musical instrument) left at the scene of the crime…and suddenly finds himself caught up in a dark mystery that reaches from the islands of Okinawa to the streets of L. A. –a world of heartbreaking memories, deception, and murder. From the Trade Paperback edition.
Gasa-Gasa Girl
by Naomi HiraharaBetween a father and a daughter. . . Between one culture and another. . . An astonishing mystery starts to unfold. . . From the time she was a child, Mas Arai's daughter, Mari, was completely gasa-gasa-never sitting still, always on the go, getting into everything. And Mas, busy tending lawns, gambling, and struggling to put his Hiroshima past behind him, never had much time for the family he was trying to support. For years now, his resentful daughter has lived a continent away in New York City, and had a life he knew little about. But an anxious phone call from Mari asking for his help plunges the usually obstinate Mas into a series of startling situations, from maneuvering in an unfamiliar city to making nice with his tall, blond son-in-law, Lloyd, to taking care of a sickly child. . . to finding a dead body in the rubble of a former koi pond. The victim was Kazzy Ouchi, a half-Japanese millionaire who also happened to be Mari and Lloyd's boss. Stumbling onto the scene, Mas sees more amiss than the detectives do, but his instinct is to keep his mouth shut. Only when the case threatens his daughter and her family does Mas take action: patiently, stubbornly tugging at the end of a tangled, dangerous mystery. And as he does, he begins to lay bare a tragic secret on the dark side of an American dream. . . . Both a riveting mystery and a powerful story of passionate relationships across a cultural divide, Gasa-Gasa Girl is a tale told with heart and wisdom: an unforgettable portrait of fathers, daughters, and other strangers.
Lady Liberty
by Vicki HinzeThe fate of a country lies in one woman’s hands. . . U. S. Vice President Sybil Stone, code-named Lady Liberty, has proven she can hold her own against some of the world’s most influential power brokers. But now, negotiating a vital peace agreement in Geneva, Switzerland, Sybil receives an urgent message calling her back to American soil. In seventy-two hours disaster will strike, catapulting the United States into a war that will cost millions of lives. Only Sybil Stone holds the key to stopping it. Yet between Sybil and success lies a minefield of intrigue, betrayal, twisted motives, and three merciless enemies. Her only hope of survival--and the world’s--rests with Agent Jonathan Westford, a judiciously ruthless operative with one goal: in the face of overwhelming odds, to keep Lady Liberty alive. Time is running out and trust is running thin. But Lady Liberty and Agent Westford know they must succeed--or the first-strike missile will launch. . .
What We Do Is Secret
by Thorn Kief Hillsbery"Why am I a punk? Because I wasn't anything before, except different. And now it's like I'm different, but with a vengeance. " It's been months since the suicide of Darby Crash, L. A. punk rock icon and lead singer of the Germs. He checked out on the same day John Lennon was shot: December 8, 1980. But for Rockets Redglare, it feels like yesterday. Darby was the hot-as-sun center of Rockets's world. Part ringleader, part god, and all charismatic manipulator, Darby was as close to family as a hustler and street kid like Rockets might ever get. Now, as Rockets amps up for another night looking for tricks and scrounging a meal, Sex Pistols and X lyrics on repeat in his head, he knows he's come to a turning point-the scene is changing, and nothing's as easy as it was when Darby brought him into the fold. From the underground clubs to the back of the giant "H" in the Hollywood sign, Rockets and his crew of friends spend the night burning bridges, building new ones, tripping and talking and searching for answers. As the dark gives way to early morning, the punks and the cops engage in their ritual standoff-and Rockets faces the ultimate choice: Should he stay or should he go? From the Trade Paperback edition.
Dante's Numbers (Nic Costa #7)
by David HewsonAllan Prime's eyes were as large as any man's Peroni had ever seen. He looked ready to die of fright, even before the bright, shining spear with the blood-soaked tip reached his head . The death mask of the poet Dante is to be exhibited at the premiere of a controversial film, Inferno, based on his epic work. But at the grand unveiling this priceless artefact is replaced by a macabre death mask of the film's star, Allen Prime. And minutes later, the leading actress, Maggie Flavier, is threatened before her attacker is shot. After footage of Primeâ s murder is shown over the internet, the Carabinieri are determined to take over the investigation, certain that a crazed Dante fan is behind the killing. Nic Costa and his team follow the movie to its next showing in San Francisco, to safeguard the remaining items and hoping to recover the stolen death mask. However, in California the mystery deepens, with confusing new clues about the deaths in Rome. With the Carabinieri and local authorities distracted by false leads, can Costa protect Maggie, find the truth and stop the killer -- all before life imitates art?
The Garden of Evil (Nic Costa #6)
by David HewsonThe picture possessed a frightful beauty, one which burned so brightly that, once witnessed, could never be unseen . . . Even the presence of two corpses, one clearly murdered, the other dead through strange and suspicious circumstances, did nothing to distract their attention from the canvas . . . In a hidden studio in an area of Rome where the Vatican liked to keep an eye on the city's prostitutes, an art expert from the Louvre is found dead in front of one of the most beautiful paintings that Nic Costa has ever seen " an unknown Caravaggio masterpiece. But before long tragedy will strike Nic far closer to home. The main suspect's identity is known, but he remains untouchable --protected in his grand palazzo by a fleet of lawyers and a sinister cult known as the Ekstasists. If Costa and his team can crack the reasons for the cult's existence, he may well stand a chance of nailing the double-killer. But the mystery will take him right back to Caravaggio himself and the reasons he had to flee Rome all those centuries before . . .
The Villa of Mysteries (Nic Costa #2)
by David HewsonIn a thriller of astounding menace and power, the acclaimed author of A Season for the Dead returns to the landscape he has made his own--the seething landscape of modern-day Rome--where ancient crimes lie hidden beneath colorful, bustling avenues. Here a teenage girl has disappeared, a detective is exploring a 2000-year-old ritual-and an astonishing mystery is about to unravel in a city of secrets and rage.... In Rome's crowded Campo dei Fiori, a woman rushes up to two carabinieri lounging in their sunglasses and uniforms, insisting that her sixteen-year-old daughter has just been abducted. Detective Nic Costa sees the scene unfold and intervenes. Because Costa knows what the two officers don't: that in the morgue at Rome's police headquarters, a forensic pathologist is examining the strange, mummified corpse of another girl, whose disappearance and death bear haunting similarities.... Police pathologist Teresa Lupo is Nic's colleague, friend, and his only equal when it comes to breaking the rules to get results, whatever the cost. Now, after years of living with the dead, Teresa insists that her superiors move quickly to save a life. Poring over the body of the girl in the morgue, she has found too many similarities between the girls, including a unique, leering tattoo. Lupo is sure that the vanished girl is headed for a bizarre ancient Bacchanalia involving virgins and sacrificial murder-a ritual that is only days away. As Nic and Teresa claw at the case from two sides-and as Nic finds himself at once puzzled and beguiled by the missing girl's seductive mother-a chilling picture is beginning to emerge...of secret relationships and sexual depravity, organized crime and unimaginable corruption. With the clock ticking down on a young girl's life, Nic and Teresa are about to make the most horrifying discovery of all--in a pit of human darkness, where an age-old malevolence still endures, evil has consumed innocence...and a very modern vengeance has begun. A spellbinding mix of suspense, forensic science, and human drama, The Villa of Mysteries will catch you off guard at every turn--a novel that is at once heartbreaking and impossible to put down.
A Season for the Dead (Nic Costa #1)
by David Hewson'Stefano's left arm, the one holding the weapon, swept the table, swept everything on it . . . She was quiet, waiting, which was, his eyes seemed to say, what he wanted. Then Stefano lifted up the bag to the height of the desk, turned it upside down, let the contents fall on the table and said, 'The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. " ' Whilst Sara Farnese pours over ancient texts in the silent Vatican reading room, a brutal murder is taking place in a nearby church. Then suddenly a crazed man enters the Vatican carrying a bloodied bag. He walks up to Sara's desk. He has something he would like her to see . . . Soon Sara us inextricably linked to a series of horrific and cunning murders, each one representative of the death of a martyr of the Church. Into this climate enter Detectives Costa and Rossi, enlisted to track down the killer, and to protect Sara from the horrors he is capable of. It seems that at any time she could be the next chosen sacrifice . . .
Lucifer's Shadow
by David HewsonIn an ancient burial ground on an island off Venice, a young woman's casket is pried open, an object is wrenched from her hands, and an extraordinary adventure begins. From the moment he arrives in Venice, Daniel Forster is seduced by the city's mystery and eroticism. An earnest young academic, Daniel has come for a summer job cataloguing a private collector's library. But when Daniel's employer sends him to buy a stolen violin from a petty thief, a chain reaction of violence and deception ignites. Suddenly Daniel is drawn into a police investigation--and a tempest swirling around a beautiful woman, a mysterious palazzo, and a lost musical masterpiece dating back centuries. With each step he takes, Daniel unwittingly retraces a journey that began in 1733, when another young man came to Venice. And when, in this realm of intrigue and beauty, two lovers came face-to-face with a killer--and a mystery was born. Separated by centuries, two tales of passion, betrayal, and danger collide in David Hewson's dazzling novel. Sweeping us from the intrigue of Vivaldi's Venice to the gritty world of a modern cop, from the genius of a prodigy to the greed of a killer,Lucifer's Shadowbuilds to a shattering crescendo--and one last, breathtaking surprise. From the Hardcover edition.
KISS ME kill me
by Lauren HendersonWhen 16-year-old Scarlett Wakefield transfers from St. Tabby’s to Wakefield Hall Collegiate, she is relieved that no one knows her dark, haunting secret. A few months ago, Scarlett was invited to an elite party with a guest list full of the hottest names in British society, including Dan McAndrew. Before the party, Scarlett had only imagined what it would be like to have her first kiss with Dan, but on the penthouse terrace, Dan leaned in close and she no longer had to wonder. Their kiss was beautiful and perfect and magical, and then . . . Dan McAndrew took his last breath as she held him in her arms. No one knows how or why Dan died, and everyone at St. Tabby’s believes Scarlett had something to do with it. But now that she’s safely hidden away at Wakefield Hall, Scarlett would rather forget that it ever happened. Only she can’t. Especially when she receives an anonymous note that will set her on the path to clearing her name and finding out what really happened to the first and last boy she kissed. From the Hardcover edition.
The Treatment
by Mo HayderMidsummer: Donegal Crescent, a quiet residential street on the edge of Brockwell Park in south London. A husband and wife are discovered bound and imprisoned in their own home. They are badly dehydrated, have been beaten, and the husband is close to death. But worse is to come: their young son is missing. When DI Jack Caffery of the Met's murder squad, AMIT, is called in to investigate, the similarities to events in his own past make it impossible for him to view this new crime with the necessary detachment. And as Jack digs deeper, as he attempts to hold his own life together in the face of ever more disturbing revelations about both the past and the present, the real nightmare begins. Horrifying, unforgettable, intense, 'The Treatment' is a novel that touches the raw nerve of our darkest imaginings.
Jack Wakes Up: A Novel
by Seth HarwoodJack Palms cashes in on his former celebrity by showing out-of-towners around San Francisco. When people start turning up dead, Jack realizes he's been playing tour guide to a pack of former KGB agents. Soon he's got too many gunmen after him to count.
The Third Rail
by Michael HarveyThe ferocious new novel from the author of The Chicago Way and The Fifth Floor finds Michael Harvey at the top of his game in an expertly plotted, impossible to put down thriller set in Chicago's public transit system. Harvey's tough talking, Aeschylus quoting, former Irish cop turned PI, Michael Kelly, is back in another sizzling murder mystery that pits him against a merciless sniper on the loose in Chicago's public transportation system. After witnessing a shooting on an L platform--and receiving a phone call from the killer himself--Kelly is drawn toward a murderer with an unnerving link to his own past, to a crime he witnessed as a child, and to the consequences it had on his relationship with his father, a subject Kelly would prefer to leave unexamined. But when his girlfriend--the gorgeous Chicago judge Rachel Swenson--is abducted, Kelly has no choice but to find the killer by excavating his own stormy past. Stylish, sophisticated, edge-of-your-seat suspense from a new modern master.
The Fifth Floor
by Michael HarveyMichael Harvey's sizzling follow-up to The Chicago Way ("A wonderful first novel ... Harvey has studied the masters and put his own unique touch on the crime novel ... Heralds the arrival of a major new voice" --Michael Connelly) opens with a murder in contemporary Chicago and winds its way back to Mrs. O'Leary's cow and the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Private investigator Michael Kelly, the Windy City's answer to Philip Marlowe, is back in another page-turner that revives a tantalizing mystery buried in Chicago's past. When Kelly is hired by an old girlfriend to tail her abusive husband, he expects trouble of a domestic rather than a historical nature. Life, however, is not so simple. The trail leads Kelly to an old house on Chicago's North Side. Inside it, he finds a body, and perhaps the answer to one of Chicago's most enduring mysteries: who started the Great Chicago Fire and why. The ensuing investigation takes Kelly to places he'd rather not go: specifically, City Hall's fabled fifth floor, where the mayor is feeling the heat. Kelly becomes embroiled in a scam that stretches from current politics back to the night Chicago burned to the ground, and along the way, he finds himself framed for murder, before finally facing a killer bent on rewriting history. The Fifth Floor is fast-stepping, intricately woven suspense, rich with the lore and atmosphere of a great city. A marvelous successor to Harvey's critically acclaimed debut.
The Clue of the Left-Handed Envelope
by George E. StanleyEveryone loves the new teacher, Mr. Merlin. Mr. Merlin used to be a spy, and he knows all about secret codes and the strange and gross ways the police solve mysteries. Now there's a mystery in their very own class -- someone sent Amber Lee Johnson an anonymous letter.
Southern Ghost (Death on Demand #8)
by Carolyn G. HartThe first author to win all three major mystery awards--the Agatha, the Anthony, and the MacAvity--offers her latest Annie and Max Darling mystery. Southern Ghost is a delicious Southern Gothic full of humor, electric suspense, and a beloved cast of characters.
No Reservations Required
by Ellen HartA KILLER WAS FULLY COMMITTED Twin Cities businessman Ken Loy is the first to die; shot between the eyes during a sunset bike ride. Half an hour later, Bob Fabian, the rich and handsome owner of the Minneapolis Times Register, meets a similar fate. It was a year ago when Loy broadsided the VW Beetle driven by Fabian’s wife, Valerie, killing her instantly. Coincidence? Sleuthing food critic Sophie Greenway doesn’t buy it. Indeed, the elegant Rookery Club, where the upper crust gathers to drink, dine, and gossip, is already simmering with rumors–about the murders, about a Times Register reporter’s shameless fabrication of news stories, about rifts in two high-profile relationships. So when Sophie turns up the heat, the lethal bouillabaisse of twisted love, sadistic rage, and insatiable greed boils over. It seems that poisonous concoction murder du jour is back on the menu. . . . From the Paperback edition.
Death on a Silver Platter
by Ellen HartDOUBLE MURDER, ON THE HOUSE Far from being the idyllic home Carl Veelund envisioned when he built the grand mansion years ago, Prairie Lodge has become the keeper of many dark and terrible secrets. Now family members are dropping like flies: Two women are dead—and truths long hidden are about to be brought to light. When restaurant reviewer-cum-sleuth Sophie Greenway stumbles upon an old diary, she has no idea it will toss her like a salad into the center of the tragedies unfolding at Prairie Lodge. It appears that being a dear friend to Carl’s daughter, Elaine, has become dangerous. For in a recipe that calls for murder, deceit, sibling rivalry, and old grudges that die hard, Sophie finds herself the main ingredient. . . . From the Paperback edition.
Murder in Alphabet City (Manhattan Mystery #2)
by Lee HarrisNewly promoted to detective first-grade with the NYPD, Jane Bauer, is back to work after a nearly fatal run-in with a killer. But while she's happy to be back on the job, her new assignment-another cold case-seems to hold little promise of being solved. Eight years ago, Anderson Stratton, a schizophrenic, was found dead of starvation in his apartment. Nothing on the scene indicated foul play, and although he left no note, the death was ultimately ruled a suicide. Stratton's well-connected sister, Flavia Constantine, never accepted that conclusion, and has insisted that the case be reopened. But in their investigation, Jane and her team stumble upon another grisly suicide-and realize that the two may very well be connected. As her inquiry intensifies, Jane is led to a shocking and horrible truth-and once again finds herself on the threshold of death. From the Paperback edition.
The Silver Anniversary Murder (Christine Bennett Mystery #16)
by Lee HarrisChristine Bennett answers her phone and hears a chilling whispered prediction, "A body will be found later today. " Police trace the call to an apartment whose tenants have vanished, leaving behind only the phone--and blood on the carpet. Why would Peter and Holly Mitchell, a couple about to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary, abandon their comfortable apartment, their careers, and, it seems, even their identities? As foretold, a woman's body turns up. So does the Mitchells' worried daughter--with a strange tale to tell.
Murder in Greenwich Village (Manhattan Mystery #3)
by Lee Harris"Detective Jane Bauer is a most welcome addition to the ranks of fictional cops. " -Peter Robinson When NYPD detective Jane Bauer and her team check in for their new assignment, they reopen a cold case that's a real killer. Ten years earlier, police responding to a spate of late-night 911 calls from Greenwich Village discovered a young African American undercover cop, Micah Anthony, shot dead on Waverly Place. The killer left no clues, and the murder remains an inscrutable mystery . . . except for two things: Anthony had infiltrated a lucrative gun-trading operation in the city, and it seemed likely that he knew and trusted the killer. So begins an investigation that leads Jane from Village brownstones to middle-class Queens, from wealthy Sutton Place to sinister subway tunnels, as a mastermind of murder resumes operations-and every path is mined with menace. "Harris knows a lot about cops and a lot about women and she knows how to plot a good mystery. " -Stephen Greenleaf From the Paperback edition.
With This Puzzle, I Thee Kill (Puzzle Lady #5)
by Parnell HallCrime, cryptograms, and killer conundrums abound for the Puzzle Lady in the fourth installment of the seriesUSA Todayraves is "a fun series for mystery fans and cruciverbalists!" It looks like wedding bells again for the much-married Cora Felton when distinguished widower Raymond Harstein III moves into town and makes a play for the Puzzle Lady. That is, it does until the mail brings puzzling cryptograms, which, when deciphered, warn Cora off the match. Or do they? As the puzzles keep coming, a killer's game must be played in earnest, and it's up to the Puzzle Lady to solve the riddle--if anyone is going to live to make it to the altar! From the Hardcover edition.
A Puzzle in a Pear Tree (Puzzle Lady #4)
by Parnell HallThe Chicago Sun-Timescrowns Parnell Hall's Puzzle Lady mysteries "a joy for lovers of both crosswords and frothy crime detection. . . Cora Felton is a lovable and unique sleuth. " Now the crime-solving powers of the inimitable Cora and her clever niece, Sherry Carter, are put to the ultimate test as they square off against a yuletide killer who hides within the white-and-black shadows of an acrostic. . . . A Puzzle In A Pear Tree 'Tis the season to be jolly, but Cora Felton, shanghaied into "The Twelve Days of Christmas" as a most reluctant maid-a-milking, has every right to feel like a grinch. When someone steals the partridge from the pear tree and replaces it with a cryptic puzzle she has no hope of solving, it's almost more than the Puzzle Lady can bear. But then smug crossword creator Harvey Beerbaum solves the acrostic, and it turns out to be a poem promising the death of an actress. This is more like it! Could the threat be aimed at Cora and her thespian debut? Or at Sherry, one of the ladies-dancing? Or at Sherry's nemesis, the pageant's predatory lead, Becky Baldwin? Cora and Sherry barely have time for a mystery, what with trimming Christmas trees and buying Christmas presents, but rehearsals go on, under police protection--until a killer strikes elsewhere in a most unexpected manner. Ordinarily Cora Felton would be delighted to have two murders to solve. But this time she finds herself vying with a visiting Scotland Yard inspector who appears to have an all-too-personal stake in solving the crimes. Cora does too when her own niece becomes a prime suspect and the murderer strikes again. Is someone trying to shut down the Christmas pageant? Cora would be only too happy if that were the case, but she fears the secrets lie deeper. Now she is interviewing witnesses, breaking into motel rooms, finding evidence, planting evidence, and having a merry old time. In fact, she would be perfectly happy--if this wasn't turning out to be a Christmas to die for! From the Hardcover edition.
Night Thunder
by Jill GregoryJosy Warner has to get out of town--fast. A favor for a friend has plunged her into deadly danger--and sent the topflight fashion designer fleeing New York to a place where no one knows her name. The tiny Wyoming town of Thunder Creek may be more than the answer to a prayer. It could hold the key to her past...and the only family she has left in the world. The last thing she expects is to fall for a rugged man of the land--a handsome widowed sheriff who calls to the wild places in her own heart. Josy Warner's arrival in Thunder Creek has set tongues wagging and ranchers vying for her attention. But if there's one thing Ty Barclay knows, it's a woman in trouble. As his attraction to the secretive beauty deepens into fierce desire, Ty vows to keep Josy safe at all costs...even when the dangers of his job bring a killer after them. Now, with perilous night crashing around them, Ty and Josy are fighting for their lives--and a love that can lead to the most glorious future of all: forever in each other's arms.