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Red Gardenias (A Bill Crane Mystery)
by Jonathan LatimerPrivate eye Bill Crane is back, in his fifth and final case, working and drinking as usual with his old sidekick, Doc Williams, and a new member of the gang, Ann Fortune, who is posing as his girlfriend - and disapproves of his carousing. The trio has been sent to a Chicago suburb to investigate a murder and death threats made to the family of an industrial magnate. Alternately impeded and abetted by the many attractive women of the family, Crane cracks the case in his own inimitable way, following a trail of clues including the perfume of gardenias, the lipstick marks on the dead man's face and the crimson cat.
The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories: Featuring Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple, and Mr. Parker Pyne (Hercule Poirot Mystery)
by Agatha Christie1 BESTSELLING MYSTERY WRITER. 3 POPULAR SLEUTHS. 9 TANTALIZING CRIMES.
Rogue Male: Soon to be a major film
by Geoffrey HouseholdTHE classic thriller of the 20th century - 'Simply the best escape and pursuit story yet written' [THE TIMES] - with an introduction by Robert MacfarlaneAn Englishman plans to assassinate the dictator of a European country. But he is foiled at the last moment and falls into the hands of ruthless and inventive torturers. They devise for him an ingenious and diplomatic death but, for once, they bungle the job and he escapes. But England provides no safety from his pursuers - and the Rogue Male must strip away all the trappings of status and civilization as the hunter becomes a hunted animal.
Rogue Male: Soon to be a major film
by Geoffrey HouseholdTHE classic thriller of the 20th century - 'Simply the best escape and pursuit story yet written' [THE TIMES] - with an introduction by Robert MacfarlaneAn Englishman plans to assassinate the dictator of a European country. But he is foiled at the last moment and falls into the hands of ruthless and inventive torturers. They devise for him an ingenious and diplomatic death but, for once, they bungle the job and he escapes. But England provides no safety from his pursuers - and the Rogue Male must strip away all the trappings of status and civilization as the hunter becomes a hunted animal.
The Smiler with the Knife (The Nigel Strangeways Mysteries #5)
by Nicholas BlakeA couple in the British countryside finds themselves fighting fascists in this suspenseful novel by “a master of detective fiction” (The Daily Telegraph). In 1930s England, Nigel and Georgia Strangeways have settled into rural bliss, thinking their days of globe-trotting detective work are behind them—but little do they know a disturbing mystery is lurking in their own front yard. When a letter arrives commanding the couple to tend their hedges, the most menial of domestic duties propels the Strangeways out of their cozy life, and into the peril of a power-hungry plot. With the help of Nigel’s uncle, Sir John Strangeways, they learn of a treasonous conspiracy bigger than their small town. To expose the sinister schemers, Georgia must risk her life and infiltrate a group of fascist sympathizers before they succeed in their plan to overthrow the government . . . “Good adventure-intrigue, and well-written.” —Kirkus Reviews
El sueño eterno (Philip Marlowe #Volumen 1)
by Raymond Chandler¿Serías capaz de resolver un misterioso caso de amenaza de muerte entre la alta sociedad de Hollywood?. Acompaña al detective Philip Marlowe, el detective más célebre del siglo XX, en este complejo caso. El detective Philip Marlowe se enfrenta a un caso que promete ser sencillo: el viejo general Sternwood, paralítico y extremadamente rico, ha recibido una nota de chantaje que concierne a su hija menor, la salvaje Carmen. Recorriendo la ciudad desde su despacho en Hollywood Boulevard hasta las mansiones de los barrios residenciales, Marlowe deberá adentrarse en un laberinto de perversidad cada vez más oscuro. Esta edición reúne también los dos relatos pulp, publicados en la revista Black Mask, que Chandler canibalizó para escribir la novela: Asesino bajo la lluvia (1935) y El telón (1936). Reseña:«Raymond Chandler inventó una nueva forma de hablar sobre Estados Unidos y desde entonces ha logrado transformar nuestra mirada.»Paul Auster
Waiting for Rusty (Black Mask)
by Keith Alan Deutsch William ColeOn the run from the law, a gangster's girl and two hoods stop to wait for the bossIn a forgotten café somewhere in the middle of the country, a blonde in a raincoat bursts through the door. She's got a pistol in her hand and two killers at her back, and she wants a bottle of rye. Dotty and her friends aren't going anywhere. They'll be here until Rusty shows up. Rusty the killer. Rusty the thief. Rusty the love of Dotty's young life. They'll be here until Rusty steps through the door, but Rusty might not be on his way.In this tight, explosive short story, a gun moll transforms into the heroine of a hard-boiled Greek tragedy. One of the most popular pieces of short fiction ever to appear in the pages of Black Mask magazine, "Waiting for Rusty" remains a remarkable work, as powerful and surprising as a sucker punch to the back of the skull.
What Dread Hand?: A Collection of Short Stories
by Christianna BrandFifteen classic tales of murder, mayhem, and mystery from &“one of the great masters of English detective fiction&” (Francis M. Nevins, author of Cornell Woolrich). Mr. de Silva begins the day sipping his coffee, reading the Times, and trying to decide how to murder his wife. After two years of marriage, he&’s simply fed up, and has decided to move on to someone younger, slimmer, and prettier. The trouble is, he wants to keep his wife&’s money. Killing her is the neatest solution. So begins &“The Rose,&” a three-page masterpiece that was the first story Christianna Brand ever wrote for publication. Over the next half-century she would write dozens of novels and countless short stories, proving again and again her genius for crisp characterization, witty dialogue, and timely bits of violence. This collection holds some of her finest early work—tales of murders committed for money, jealousy, or simply for something to do. Though the crimes often go awry, there is nothing quite so charming as a vintage Brand homicide.
The Winter Murder Case: Philo Vance #12 (Philo Vance)
by S.S. Van DineA murder in the mountains is the latest case for the Manhattan detective famed for his “highbrow manner and parade of encyclopedic learning” (The New York Times).Wealthy and worldly-wise detective Philo Vance has been asked to keep watch at a house party in the snowy Berkshires of western Massachusetts, where he encounters an assortment of guests ranging from a treasure hunter to a race car driver. The owner of the house doesn’t quite trust his son’s friends—and is worried about the security of his precious emeralds. Sure enough, a guard is soon killed, the jewels are stolen, and then another guest dies, leaving Vance to make some cold calculations about who turned this gathering from festive to fatal . . . “Mr. Van Dine’s amateur detective is the most gentlemanly, and probably the most scholarly snooper in literature.” —Chicago Daily Tribune“The best of the American mystery men.” —The Globe
Appointment With Death: Hercule Poirot Investigates (Hercule Poirot Mysteries #19)
by Agatha ChristieHercule Poirot may be on vacation, but a killer isn't. The victim's a hateful tourist despised even by her own children. For the guests at the resort hotel, sympathies are with the murderer, which means a tough job for the Belgian detective.
Artists In Crime (Inspector Alleyn #34)
by Ngaio MarshWhen murder upsets the creative tranquility of an artists' colony, Scotland Yard sends in its most famous investigator. And what begins as a routine case turns out to be the most momentous of Roderick Alleyn's career. For before he can corner the killer, his heart is captured by one of the suspects - the flashing-eyed painter Agatha Troy, who has nothing but scorn for the art of detection....Artists in Crime was first published in 1938.
Brighton Rock (Virago Modern Classics #Vol. 1)
by Graham GreeneA teenage sociopath rises to power in Britain’s criminal underworld in this “brilliant and uncompromising” thriller (The New York Times). Seventeen-year-old Pinkie Brown, raised amid the casual violence and corruption in the dire prewar Brighton slums, has left his final judgment in the hands of God. On the streets, impelled by his own twisted moral doctrine, he leads a motley pack of gangsters whose sleazy little rackets have most recently erupted in the murder of an informant. Pinkie’s attempts to cover their tracks have led him into the bed of a timid and lovestruck young waitress named Rose—his new wife, the key witness to his crimes, and, should she live long enough, his alibi. But loitering in the shadows is another woman, Ida Arnold—an avenging angel determined to do right by Pinkie’s latest victim. Adapted for film in both 1948 and 2010 and for the stage as both a drama and musical, and serving as an inspiration to such disparate artists as Morrissey, John Barry, and Queen, “this bleak, seething and anarchic novel still resonate[s]” (The Guardian).
Carthage
by Joyce Carol OatesA young girl's disappearance rocks a community and a family in this stirring examination of grief, faith, justice, and the atrocities of war from Joyce Carol Oates, "one of the great artistic forces of our time" (The Nation) Zeno Mayfield's daughter has disappeared into the night, gone missing in the wilds of the Adirondacks. But when the community of Carthage joins a father's frantic search for the girl, they discover the unlikeliest of suspects—a decorated Iraq War veteran with close ties to the Mayfield family. As grisly evidence mounts against the troubled war hero, the family must wrestle with the possibility of having lost a daughter forever. Carthage plunges us deep into the psyche of a wounded young corporal haunted by unspeakable acts of wartime aggression, while unraveling the story of a disaffected young girl whose exile from her family may have come long before her disappearance. Dark and riveting, Carthage is a powerful addition to the Joyce Carol Oates canon, one that explores the human capacity for violence, love, and forgiveness, and asks if it's ever truly possible to come home again.
The Case of the Substitute Face
by Erle Stanley GardnerDuring a dark and stormy night aboard ship, a man goes missing. A portrait photograph is mysteriously changed out of a frame. Perry Mason must solve the mystery to save a life.
The Clue in the Clay (The Lt. Stephen Mayhew Mysteries)
by Dolores HitchensA San Francisco police detective becomes obsessed with a sculptress&’s apparent suicide—and hounds his new wife into helping him solve the case . . . When Officer Charles confronts a man acting erratically early in the morning on a quiet residential street in San Francisco, he presumes it&’s a case of public intoxication—until the man blurts out that Mabel Edwards has hanged herself. The sculptress, who&’d been working on a menacing-looking Druid statue, is indeed dead. And when the shaken officer briefly leaves the scene, his only witness disappears. When Det. Lt. Stephen Mayhew, on his honeymoon in San Francisco, hears about the death from his old pal Charles, he&’s not convinced it was suicide—especially after he hears the nasty comments made by Mabel&’s elderly neighbors. To his new bride&’s dismay, he&’s soon obsessed with his hunch, peppering everyone with questions and asking poor Sara to help him re-create the crime scene. How can she say no? That&’s what she gets for marrying a policeman . . . Previously published under the name D.B. Olsen
The D.A. Holds a Candle
by Erle Stanley Gardner"A Guy in One of the Cabins Is Ready for a Funeral." District Attorney Doug Selby slammed down the receiver and ten minutes later was at the Keystone Auto Camp. "Where is he?" Selby asked. Sheriff Brandon moved the dresser. The corpse was slumped down in a grotesque sitting position. In his right hand he held a revolver and in his left a long pin such as florists give with corsages. The clues indicated the Palm Thatch, a local roadhouse, as the starting point in the investigation. There Selby ran into Mr. Big of Madison City who told him, "Lay off!" But the D. A. ignores the warning and uncovers a set-up loaded with explosive action.
Dance of Death
by Helen McCloyWhen a prominent New York socialite is murdered by means of an overdose of medication, it takes Dr Basil Willing, a psychiatrist attached to the police department, to solve the case.But mysterious accidents start occurring during his investigation, and Willing must look deeper to uncover the motive and prevent the murderer from striking again ...
The Dead Don't Care (A Bill Crane Mystery #4)
by Jonathan LatimerPrivate detective William Crane and his constant (drinking) companion Doc Williams travel to Florida to protect millionaire Penn Essex and his sister Camelia from harm. They have been receiving threatening notes, and Camelia is eventually kidnapped and held to ransom. Piecing clues together with the skill of two veteran jigsaw-puzzle aficionados, our heroes follow a trail of blackmail and debt through a sun-soaked landscape to a surprising conclusion.
The Dead Don't Care
by Jonathan LatimerPrivate detective William Crane and his constant (drinking) companion Doc Williams travel to Florida to protect millionaire Penn Essex and his sister Camelia from harm. They have been receiving threatening notes, and Camelia is eventually kidnapped and held to ransom. Piecing clues together with the skill of two veteran jigsaw-puzzle aficionados, our heroes follow a trail of blackmail and debt through a sun-soaked landscape to a surprising conclusion.
The Dead Don't Care (The Bill Crane Mysteries #4)
by Jonathan LatimerIn sun-soaked Florida, Crane pursues a kidnapper in between drinksIt does not take much to lure Bill Crane to Florida in the wintertime. The weather would be temptation enough, but the fact that there is money to be made and gin to be drunk makes a trip to Key Largo irresistible. His ever-soused companion, Doc Williams, at his side, Crane sets out south to find out who has been threatening millionaire playboy Penn Essex with blackmail notes, first on his pillow, then in his wallet, demanding $50,000—&“or else.&” But as Crane soon learns, the threat is not to Penn, but to his sister.When beautiful young Camelia is kidnapped, Crane and Doc look for traitors inside the family circle. Lurching from cocktail hour to cocktail hour, they will do everything they can to find the missing girl, knowing that murderers—and hangovers—could strike at any moment.
Death Beyond the Go-Thru (The Miles Standish Rice Mysteries #3)
by Baynard KendrickA PI and his sidekick tackle a case of murder and mayhem at a Florida lumber mill in this Golden Age mystery by the author of The Iron Spiders.Arnold Drenner had been warned not to take his boat through Florida&’s coastal waterways at night—especially alone. However, the businessman was never any good at heeding advice, and the trait appears to have brought about his demise. When an employee of Drenner&’s lumber mill discovers his boss&’s boat run aground, Drenner&’s onboard—dead.When Connie Drenner arrives on the scene, she&’s advised to sell her father&’s struggling mill. But she soon receives a frightening warning: it seems someone doesn&’t want her around either.Desperate for help, Connie calls on a family friend. Now, private detective Miles Standish Rice and his majordomo, George, must root out the source of the trouble. And they better be quick—before Connie is made to follow in her father&’s footsteps . . . Baynard Kendrick was a founding member of the Mystery Writers of America, the holder of the organization&’s first membership card, and a winner of its Grand Master Award.
Death from a Top Hat (The Great Merlini Mysteries #1)
by Clayton RawsonWhen a necromancer is murdered, a magician takes the caseFreelance scribe Ross Harte is working on an essay about the sad state of the modern mystery novel when a scream comes from the hallway: "There is death in that room!" Harte finds a trio of conjurers trying to get into the apartment of his neighbor, the mysterious Dr. Cesare Sabbat, famed occultist and, for the past few minutes, a corpse. They break down the door to find Sabbat lying in a pentagram, face twisted from the agonies of strangulation, but with no bruises on his neck. All the doors were locked, and the windows drop straight down to the river below. Only an escape artist could get out of that room, and Sabbat knew quite a few. To make sense of this misdirected muddle, the police bring in the Great Merlini, an illusionist whose specialty is making mysteries disappear.
Death from a Top Hat
by Clayton RawsonA magician turned detective is caught up in the most baffling locked-room murder mystery...'One of the all-time greatest impossible murder mysteries' Publishers Weekly starred review'Dazzling' Saturday Review'A cornerstone of detective fiction' New York TimesMaster magician The Great Merlini has hung up his top hat and white gloves, and now spends his days running a magic shop in New York and his nights moonlighting as a consultant for the NYPD. When the crimes seem impossible, it is his magician's mind they need. So when two occultists are discovered dead in locked rooms, one spread out on a pentagram, both appearing to have been murdered under similar circumstances, Merlini is immediately called in. The list of suspects includes an escape artist, a professional medium, and a ventriloquist - and it is only too clear that this is a world Merlini knows rather too well...
Death In A White Tie (Inspector Alleyn #36)
by Ngaio MarshThe season had begun. Débutantes and chaperones were planning their luncheons, teas, dinners, balls. And the blackmailer was planning his strategies, stalking his next victim.But Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn knew that something was up. He had already planted his friend Lord Robert Gospell at the scene.But someone else got there first...It's a difficult case for Chief Detective Inspector Alleyn. How can he believe that the woman he loves is a murderess? And yet no one can be above suspicion...
The Death Stands By (Department Z #10)
by John CreaseyIt all started with the murder of a foreign ambassador in a deserted country mansion . . . Tensions are running high in Europe—and it’s crucial that the killers responsible for this baffling murder are stopped before they bring about a crisis of unspeakable proportions. It’s time for British intelligence’s best-kept secret to step in. The agents of Department Z work tirelessly, grappling with a ruthless group of organized assassins. The clock is ticking, because these murderers aren’t satisfied with just one casualty. Their goal is war . . . Death Stands By is a fast-paced adventure that blends sharp detection with international intrigue, from the multimillion-selling, Edgar Award–winning author.