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Medusa (Aurelio Zen #9)
by Michael DibdinMichael Dibdin's veteran Italian police officer is back. The newest addition to this remarkable series -- consistently galvanizing as much for its revelation of the subtle complexities of Italian life as for its page-turning suspense -- is a novel of long-held secrets set against a sweeping background of political and passionate intrigue. When a group of Austrian cavers exploring a network of abandoned military tunnels in the Italian Alps comes across human remains at the bottom of a deep shaft, everyone assumes the death was accidental. Until, that is, the still-unidentified body is stolen from the morgue and the Defense Ministry puts a news blackout on the case. And is the recent car bombing in Campione D'Italia, a tiny tax haven surrounded on all sides by Switzerland, somehow related? The whole affair has the whiff of political corruption. That's enough to interest Aurelio Zen's boss at the Interior Ministry, who wants to know who is hiding what from whom, and why. The search for the truth leads Zen back into the murky history of postwar Italy and the obscure corners of modern-day society to uncover the truth about a crime that everyone thought was as dead and buried as its victim. From the Hardcover edition.
Back to Bologna (Aurelio Zen #10)
by Michael DibdinWhen the corpse of the shady industrialist who owns the local football team is found both shot and stabbed with a Parmesan knife, Italian police inspector Aurelio Zen is called to Bologna to oversee the investigation. Recovering slowly from surgery, and fleeing an equally painful crisis in his personal life, Zen is only too happy to take on what at first appears to be a routine and relatively undemanding assignment. But soon a world-famous university professor is shot with the same gun, immediately after publicly humiliating Italy's leading celebrity television chef, and the case-intertwined with the fates of an earnest student of semiotics and a mysterious young immigrant who claims to be from Ruritania-spins out of control, and Zen is in no condition to rise to the challenge. There's also a wild card in the pack, Tony Speranza, Bologna's most flamboyant private detective. Back to Bologna is dazzlingly plotted, features a cast of vivid and idiosyncratic characters, and along the way delivers both comic and serious insights into the realities of today's Italy.
Train
by Pete DexterLos Angeles, 1953. Lionel Walk is a young black caddy at Brookline, the oldest, most exclusive country club in the city, where he is known by the nickname "Train." A troubled, keenly intelligent kid with no particular interest in his own prodigious talent for the game, he keeps his head down and his mouth shut as he navigates his way between the careless hostility of his "totes" and the explosive brutality of the other caddies. Miller Packard, a sergeant with the San Diego police department, first appears on the boy's horizon as a distracted gambler, bored with ordinary risks. Train names him the "Mile-Away Man" as they walk off the first tee, and even months later, when they have become partners of a sort and are winning high-stakes matches against golf hustlers all over the country, the Mile-Away Man is a puzzle to Train, remote and intimate, impulsive and thoughtful, often all at the same time. Packard is also a puzzle to Norah Still, the beautiful lone survivor of a terrifying yacht hijacking, who is both aroused and repulsed by his violent and detached manner at the crime scene. Packard himself feels no such ambiguity. He is unequivocally drawn to Norah - and perhaps to what has happened to her - and an odd, volatile triangle takes shape, Packard pulling the other two relentlessly into deeper water, away from what is safe. With his trademark economy of style, Dexter brings these characters to life in their most reckless, vulnerable moments, stripping away words and manners until all that is left is the basic human pulse.
Easy as One, Two, Three
by Phillip DepoyDeep in the hollows of Georgia's wild Appalachians, the ghost of a young girl can sometimes be seen in the moonlight, still wandering the paths of Black Pine Mountain, where she vanished more than fifty years ago. Now another little girl has gone missing, the only child of a troubled backwoods couple guarding a dark secret of their own. Flap Tucker, a Zen private eye with a knack for finding missing things, is on his way from Atlanta to the eerie little town of Lost Pines. Beautiful nightclub owner Dalliance Oglethorpe has come with him. Together they will play their parts in the most terrifying kind of ghost story: one that's real--and not over yet. Following a twisted trail that leads from the down-home warmth of Miss Nina's renowned FOOD establishment to the terrifying raptures of charismatic snake handlers, from shadowy forests where old tragedies lie buried to the cold realities of modern-day evil, Flap Tucker and his special talents are a little girl's last hope against a ghost's final revenge.
Too Easy
by Phillip DepoyFrom the neon of Atlanta to the Georgia seacoast, he's searching for a killer, a motive. . . and his past. On the marshy shores of the Georgia coast, the locals tell a story: of a woman who appeared from the sea, and of two gentle twin brothers who would do anything for her. But now a man is dead, the twins are missing, and only a meditating private eye from Atlanta can unravel the truth. . . . His name is Flap Tucker. A man with a gift for visualization and the courage to go where his mind leads him, Flap has been hired by the beautiful nightclub owner Dalliance Oglethorpe to go deep into rural Georgia, where a banker has been murdered. The man's wife--a woman so shrouded in mystery that some believe she is a spirit--and a pair of twin brothers named Peachy and Maytag are wanted in the crime. Entering a world of gnarled kinships, family secrets, and dirty money, Flap stumbles upon yet another murder. And now the Zen private eye is pursuing a story stranger than fiction, a killer closer than he thinks, and some dangerous ghosts of his own.
Easy
by Phillip DepoyCheck out the Majestic Diner At 3 a.m. Look for a man named Flap and a woman named Dalliance... Flap Tucker isn't like other private eyes. He's a mystic, a finder of lost things, a veteran of a foreign war who lives on the wrong side of town and lets his mind go freely to nirvana. Now, in the city that Sherman burned but didn't bury, where good ol' boys and transvestite hookers pass in the downtown Atlanta night, Flap Tucker is beginning the strangest case of his already strange career. Flap's best friend, the beautiful nightclub owner Dalliance Oglethorpe, wants Flap to find the vanished wife of a millionaire scion--a half-wit who may have made the woman up in the first place. Real or not, Flap starts looking for one Augusta Donne, and finds, instead, the brutal murders of two topless dancers and a transvestite who was ritually slain. Each step of the way, the case grows more sinister, until Flap suddenly reaches that place only he can go: where all the universe is interconnected, where a Zenlike truth illuminates the path, and where Flap Tucker, the man with all the answers, is standing in a killer's way....
Death Train to Boston
by Dianne DayAutumn 1908 finds Caroline Fremont Jones and her partner in love and work, Michael Kossoff, traveling incognito, riding the rails from San Francisco to Boston. The railroad hired the sleuthing couple to investigate a series of accidents. But before they can solve the mystery, they become victims of the worst mishap yet when their train blows up near Salt Lake City. Was it a callous act of vandalism-or something even more sinister? Michael isn't about to let his injuries slow down his search for answers. . . or for Fremont, who has not been seen since the accident-dead or alive. Fortunately, the badly injured Fremont was rescued from the train's wreckage. But her unlikely savior, the leader of a breakaway Mormon sect, has hidden her away in his remote wilderness community. It seems that Melancthon Pratt has big plans for Fremont. . . not the least of which is for her to become his sixth wife. Now Fremont's only hope is that her genius for artifice will help her devise an escape. That is, unless Michael, shadowed by an old nemesis and a mysterious stranger, can find her before a heartless killer claims both their lives. From the Paperback edition.
Cut to the Heart
by Ava Dianne DayInspired by the true heroism of legendary nurse Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, award-winning author Ava Dianne Day weaves a suspenseful blend of fact and fiction in a gripping historical thriller set against the violent upheavals of the Civil War. Assigned to Hilton Head Island, headquarters of the Union Army in the South, Clara Barton finds herself in a limbo that is neither battlefield nor hospital. Here, among emancipated former slaves, Barton must look after wounded Colonel John Elwell--and learn all she can about the community’s folk medicine. But while she longs to return to the front line, she soon discovers the isolated settlement has perils of its own. As Clara’s suspicions escalate, historical events propel the “Angel of the Battlefield” toward a confrontation as old as time itself. On one side stands Clara Barton, the epitome of goodness and humanity; on the other, a sociopath possessed of a mind as brilliant as it is depraved. From the Paperback edition.
After Twilight
by Dee DavisIt was the perfect place to disappear . . . When Kacy Macgrath's life crumbled two years ago, she changed her name and escaped to her grandmother's cottage in Ireland. Here she lives anonymously, with no reminders of the past--except the terrifying images that continue to haunt her dreams. Images of the stormy night her husband Alex walked out on her--and fell into the raging waters near their Long Island home. After his death, Kacy uncovered secrets about Alex she was better off not knowing, so she ran away. Now someone is watching her. Braedon Roche has traveled across an ocean looking for justice--to expose Kacy Macgrath as a master forger who, along with her late husband, had nearly destroyed his career as an art dealer. What Braedon doesn't expect is his undeniable attraction to the fragile widow hiding behind a web of deception. But Braedon isn't the only man following Kacy. A savage killer stalks from the shadows, chipping away at her sanity, and trapping her in an unspeakable nightmare. . . . From the Paperback edition.
Sticks & Scones (Goldy Bear #10)
by Diane Mott DavidsonCelebrated for her unique blend of first-class suspense and five-star fare, Diane Mott Davidson has won scores of fans and earned a place on major bestseller lists across the country. Now she dishes up another dangerously tasty treat of murder and mystery. For Colorado caterer Goldy Schulz, accepting a series of bookings at Hyde Castle is like a dream come true. It's not every day that she gets to cook authentic Elizabethan fare--especially at a real castle that was brought over from England and reassembled stone by stone in Aspen Meadow. Goldy is determined that everything will go right--which is why, she figures later, everything went terribly wrong. It begins when a shotgun blast shatters her window. Then Goldy discovers a body lying in a nearby creek. And when shots ring out for the second time that day, someone Goldy loves is in the line of fire. Suddenly the last thing Goldy wants to think about is Shakespeare's Steak Pie, 911 Chocolate Emergency Cookies, or Damson-in-Distress Plum Tart. Could one of her husband Tom's police investigations have triggered a murder? Or was her violent, recently paroled ex responsible? With death peering around every corner, Goldy needs to cook up some crime-solving solutions--before the only dish that's left on her menu is murder.
Midnight Rain
by Dee Davis"I'M ADDING DEE DAVIS TO MY MUST-READ LIST. " -KAY HOOPER Author ofTouching Evil For undercover FBI agent Katie Cavanaugh this was supposed to be a routine job-go in, get the evidence, catch a killer. But from the moment she lays eyes on John Brighton the intense charge in the air between them tells her that the stakes will be higher this time around. Posing as his physical therapist allows Katie firsthand access to him but she can't let the intimacy of living together cloud her judgment. She will need her instincts sharp if she is going to find him guilty . . . or prove his innocence. Left for dead along a deserted highway, John awakes to find himself the lead suspect in a murder investigation. The only bright point in his life is Katie. Warm and beautiful, she is the one person he thinks he can trust. But as a net of suspicion closes in, John and Katie must work to unravel the maze of secrets and lies that threaten to keep them apart forever. . . . From the Paperback edition.
When Zeffie Got a Clue: A Cozy Mystery
by Peggy DartyChristy Castleman discovers a clue to a cold case murder mystery inside a jewelry box. Despite warnings from her family and boyfriend, Christy decides to do a little detective work of her own. Soon she finds there is more to the small box than someone wants her to know.
The Alpine Scandal
by Mary DaheimWelcome to mystery lovers’ favorite destination: Alpine, Washington, Mary Daheim’s picturesque old logging town in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. From the Venison Inn to the Upper Crust Bakery, Front Street is jumping–and the nerve center of the community is the office of The Alpine Advocate, Emma Lord’s weekly newspaper, which keeps folks up to speed on everything from joyous weddings to sudden, violent death. THE ALPINE SCANDAL It’s a quiet morning at the Advocate until the mail brings shocking news: a formal obituary for Alpiner Elmer Nystrom. As far as anyone knows, Elmer is alive and well. But he hasn’t turned up for work, so Emma and her unstoppable House & Home editor, Vida Runkel, rush to the Nystrom home, where they find Elmer’s lifeless body in the henhouse, half buried under straw. Not only has he been murdered, but his obituary had been mailed before he died. Though Elmer was well liked by everyone, the same cannot be said of his standoffish wife or his son, the town’s new orthodontist. Rumors fly–straight into the office of the Advocate. Why did Dr. Nystrom’s new receptionist resign at the end of her first day? Why are the Nystroms’ neighbors so close-mouthed? Who mailed that prophetic obituary? With Sheriff Milo Dodge in the hospital, it’s up to Emma and Vida to get to the bottom of the tragedy. Alpiners love scandal, and with Elmer’s murder, they’ll get their fill. The Alpine Scandal, number nineteen in this bestselling series, is as suspenseful and charming as its predecessors, a delicious look into the life of a small town where all inhabitants know one another–just not as well as they thought. From the Hardcover edition.
Thraxas (Omnibus: Thraxas, Book 1; Thraxas and the Warrior Monks, Book 2)
by Martin ScottThis hilarious two-in-one volume introduces Britain's fantasy hit to America. Portly private eye Thraxas is hired by a Princess of the enchanted city of Turai on a case which leads him right to the corrupt Imperial Palace.
The Alpine Obituary
by Mary DaheimSPECIAL EDITION: MURDER Not even in Alpine, Washington, could the death of octogenarian Jack Froland be considered big news—except by his drinking buddies at Mugs Ahoy. But that suddenly changes when in the middle of the funeral, Jack’s widow hysterically insists that he was murdered. Emma Lord, publisher ofThe Alpine Advocate, who is already investigating a threatening letter received by the town’s beautiful blonde judge, now suspects she has two hot stories to unravel. Backed by her House and Home editor, that bottomless repository of scandal Vida Runkel, she prepares for a triple-threat special: murder, blackmail, and—as wildfire sweeps the mountainside— possible arson as well. But success will not come cheap. With a killer roaming the woods, it may cost Emma her life. . . . READ ALL ABOUT IT! The Alpine Advocate Novels by Mary Daheim
The God Particle
by Richard CoxThere is a divine spark within us all. In one man, that spark is about to explode. American businessman Steve Keeley is hurtled three stories to the cold cobblestone street in Zurich. In the days that follow, a doctor performs miraculous surgery on Keeley, who wakes up to find that everything about his world has changed. He seems to sense things before they happen, and he thinks he's capable of feats that are clearly impossible. It's a strange and compelling new world for him, one he quickly realizes is also incredibly dangerous. Meanwhile at a $12 billion facility in hardscrabble North Texas, a super collider lies two hundred feet beneath the Earth's surface. Leading a team of scientists, Mike McNair, a brilliant physicist, works to uncover one of the universe's greatest secrets-a theoretical particle that binds the universe together, often called The God Particle. When his efforts are undermined by the man who has poured his own vast fortune into the project, McNair begins to suspect that something in his research has gone very, very wrong. Now, these two men are about to come together, battling mysteries of science and of the soul-and venturing to a realm beyond reason, beyond faith, perhaps even beyond life and death.
What Janie Found
by Caroline B. CooneyJanie Johnson's two families appear to have made peace. But then Janie's father in Connecticut suffers a sudden stroke, which leaves her mother reeling. Janie must step in to manage family finances and support her mother emotionally. While handling her father's business matters, Janie discovers an undeniable fact that could destroy both of her beloved families. And she alone must decide what to do.
Diamonds in the Shadow
by Caroline B. CooneyA powerful novel about the difficulty of doing what is right. Through their love for people, yet ignorance of the unknown, the Finch Family has joined alongside their church and opened their home to an African refugee family who are moving to Connecticut. The Amabo family of four– Andre, Celestine, Mattu, and Alake: father, mother, and teenage son and daughter– arrive in great hope as they have escaped the tyranny of Africa. What the Finch Family doesn’t know is that there are not just four refugees in this Amabo family, but five. As the Amabo family, who have suffered unimaginable horrors, begin to adjust to a life of plenty in the Finches' suburban Connecticut home, and the Finches are learning new lessons of “The Golden Rule”. The life adjustment for all seems flawless. But the fifth refugee does not believe in good will. This lawless rebel has managed to enter America undetected. And the Amabo family has something of his--something that they agreed to carry into the country for him. When Jared, the oldest Finch son, realizes that the good guys are not always innocent, he must make a decision that could change the fates of both the Finches and the Amabos. In this uncommonly penetrating story, Caroline B. Cooney presents a fresh perspective on how doing what is right can be most difficult. From the Hardcover edition.
Hailey's War: A Novel
by Jodi ComptonHailey Cain has a history of testing the limits of her fate: as a fearless bike messenger on the twisted, competitive streets of San Francisco; as a young female cadet in a sea of men at West Point. But Hailey also has secrets--the biggest of which led her to leave the academy just two months short of graduation, two months away from becoming a lieutenant in the U. S. Army. Now, scraping and fighting her way through life, Hailey finds focus only when she's in motion. When an old friend from her former life in Los Angeles calls in a favor, Hailey doesn't have to think too long before she accepts the mission. She will escort a young Mexican woman across the border to a remote mountain town in Sierra Madre. But what happens there will alter Hailey's life irrevocably. From the dustiest Mexican roads to the meanest streets of East L. A. , Hailey finds herself ensnared in a war more deviant and ugly than any she trained for as a cadet. Deep in the gang underworld, pusued by mobsters and authorities alike, Hailey must use her instincts to stay alive--and to protect the innocent from a past that still haunts her. Awash in sharp gangland details and unrelenting in its pace, Hailey's War introduces one of the most memorable heroines in recent crime fiction. Hailey Cain is complicated, tough, and unnerving--and her journey into the depths of despair and desperation is as harrowing as it is impossible to put down.
The Mangler of Malibu Canyon
by Jennifer ColtTwin sisters Kerry and Terry McAfee are well on their way to becoming Los Angeles's most notorious PIs. With their bright red hair, canine sidekicks, and preferred mode of transportation--a hot-pink Harley--the girls are quickly getting a reputation for more than just sleuthing skills. So after nabbing the Butcher of Beverly Hills, they decide to take some time off and lay low for a while. But then the girls' rich Aunt Reba calls with the news that she's found a decapitated body in her new Malibu beach house. Kerry insists that they call the police--partly because she hopes to catch a glimpse of her former flame, the hunky Detective John Boatwright. But no sooner do the cops begin investigating than Reba and the girls are shocked by the arrival of their Cousin Robert--carrying a blond-haired head in a mesh bag with no memory of where he's been. Now it's up to the twins to find the real killer, as Reba and Robert face the prospect of life behind bars. As they search for clues, Kerry and Terry find themselves dealing with Mafia movie producers, wacko cultists, has-been actresses, and even visitors from outer space. With a razor-sharp wit that brilliantly brings to life L. A. 's most eccentric personalities,The Mangler of Malibu Canyonis fast-paced, sexy, and more fun than a ride down the Pacific Coast Highway.
The Darkling Plain
by Leroy A. WilsonShe had been murdered in a particularly gruesome manner, her head mashed to a pulp and limbs severed from her body. Since she was a call girl, one wouldn't expect too much effort to be put into solving the case. But this call girl was once someone's baby, and that someone just happened to be an extremely powerful congressman, and so the call went out. The murderer would be found. Sounds like it could be taken from today's headlines, right? Wrong. For this murder takes place in the distant future, and the man chosen to solve the case is a deep space traveler, a type of U.S. marshal for an organization called Interplanetary Enforcement. Many things have changed: people can put the aging process on hold and travel the great expanses of space. But some things have not changed, including the basic human emotions explored in this science fiction novel, The Darkling Plain, by L. A. Wilson, Jr., a dazzling achievement and great read.
Highway to Hell
by Rosemary Clement-MooreMaggie Quinn was expecting to find plenty of trouble with Lisa over Spring Break. Give a girl a bikini, a beachfront hotel, and an absent boyfriend, and it’s as good as a road map to the dark side. But Maggie doesn’t have to go looking for trouble. Trouble has started looking for her. One dead cow and a punctured gas tank later, she and Lisa are stuck in Dulcina, Texas—a town so small that it has anowner. And lately life in this small town hasn’t been all that peaceful. An eerie predator is stalking the ranchland. Everyone in town has a theory, but not even Maggie’s psychic mojo can provide any answers. And the longer the girls are stranded, the more obvious it becomes that something is seriously wrong. Only no one—not even Maggie’s closest ally—wants to admit that they could have been forced on a detour down the highway to hell. From the Hardcover edition.
The Inquisitor
by Peter ClementIt's spring in Buffalo, New York. At sprawling St. Paul's Hospital, new interns rush through the halls, staff doctors scramble to catch their protégés' mistakes, and everyone is aware of one unrelenting threat: A new and vicious strain of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has hit America hard and is menacing the hospital like a wolf at the door. Wrapped in spacesuit-like garb to search for every possible source of infection, the hospital staff desperately tries to protect the lives of patients-and of each other. Yet despite St. Paul's best efforts, people are dying. In this chilling medical landscape, no one notices the slight spike in the death rate in a palliative care ward. The prevailing attitude is "They're supposed to die. That's why we call them terminal. " When these same patients complain of terrifying near-death experiences, the hospital staff attributes it to delirium caused by medication. But when ER chief Dr. Earl Garnet gets blamed for the unexpected death of a patient, he defies protocol and opens an independent investigation. He quickly becomes suspicious that something far more sinister than disease is killing the hospital's most vulnerable patients. For Garnet, looking into the deaths means rattling relationships that have been built over years-relationships with several men and women he once trusted but now must doubt. With the SARS epidemic spinning out of control and a storm of suspicion, fear, and mistrust raging through the corridors of St. Paul's, the hospital is rocked by a horrifying crime: A respected researcher is found brutally murdered. And his executioner may be ready to strike again. With brilliant pacing, scalpel-sharp suspense, and an unmatched knowledge of the workings of a big-city hospital, Peter Clement is a thriller writer in a league of his own. In his new work, he takes us on a galvanizing, frightening, and constantly fascinating journey set on the front lines of medicine-where some dangers can be prevented and others can only be feared. From the Hardcover edition.
Mutant (Dr. Richard Steele #1)
by Peter ClementFormer ER doctor Peter Clement blends electrifying human drama with the suspense of top-notch medical thrillers. With Mutant he has written one of his most gripping, utterly chilling novels to date. On an isolated stretch of highway in Oahu, a woman cradles her dying son in her arms. In the days that follow, an autopsy draws a shocking conclusion: the boy, his lungs filled with blood, died of a disease previously found only in birds. On the other side of the globe, Dr. Richard Steele, a burned-out ER doctor is being recruited into a movement to examine the hazards of genetically modified foods, a job that takes him to an explosive conference in Hawaii. Spearheaded by a charismatic female doctor, the anti-bioengineering movement is gathering steam. While a powerful company is using genetic breakthroughs to create disease-resistant super crops, activists warn that new DNA strains will wreak havoc on the environment. But no one suspects that the controversy is masking a far more frightening human threat-one that could lead to the deadliest weapon of mass destruction ever unleashed upon the world. . . .
Plain Heathen Mischief
by Martin ClarkJoel King, a defrocked Baptist minister, finds life even more bedeviling once he's served six months for a career-ending crime he might not even have committed. Now his incommunicado wife wants a divorce, the teenage vixen of his disgrace is suing him for a cool $5 million, a fresh start in Montana offers no hope for ex-cons of any religious persuasion, and the refuge provided by his sister turns as nasty as his parole officer. Talk about a crisis of faith. On the upside, a solicitous member of Joel's former congregation invites him into a scam that could yield some desperately needed cash, and soon the down-on-his-luck preacher is involved with a flock of charming con men, crooked lawyers, and conniving youth. In a feat of bravura storytelling, Martin Clark ranges from the cross to the double cross, from Virginia to Las Vegas, from jail cells to trout streams, as he follows his Job-like hero through dubious choices and high-dollar insurance hustles to a redemption that no reader could possibly predict. Wildly imaginative, at times comic, at times profoundly sobering, and even more audacious than his wonderfully idiosyncratic debut, Plain Heathen Mischief is a spiritual revelation of the first order.