Crime and mystery: hard-boiled crime, noir fiction
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Breach of Duty
Book SynopsisThe Seattle that Beau knew as a young policeman is disappearing. Beau and his partner Sue Danielson, a struggling single parent, are assigned the murder of an elderly woman torched to death in her bed. As their investigation proceeds, Beau and Sue become embroiled in a perilous series of events that will leave them and their case shattered.Trade Review"Jance has brought us yet another winner!" -- Dallas Morning News "One of the country's most popular mystery writers." -- The Oregonian (Portland) "A dillusioned, cynical hero in the classic hard-boiled tradition." -- Journal-American Praise for J.A. Jance:"Jance delivers a devilish page-turner." -- People "J.A. Jance does not disappoint her fans." -- Washington Times "Suspenseful, action-packed." -- Dallas Morning News "Taut ... entertaining." -- Entertainment Weekly "Credible and entertaining." -- Orlando Sentinel
£8.88
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Serena tiein
Book SynopsisThe year is 1929, and newlyweds George and Serena Pemberton arrive in North Carolina to create a timber empire. Although George has already lived in the camp long enough to father an illegitimate child, Serena is new to the mountains—but she soon shows herself to be the equal of any worker, overseeing crews, hunting rattlesnakes, even saving her husband's life in the wilderness.Together Serena and George ruthlessly kill or vanquish all who fall out of their favor. But when Serena learns that she will never bear a child, she sets out on her own to kill the son George had without her. Mother and child begin a struggle for their lives, and when Serena suspects George is protecting his illegitimate family, the Pembertons' intense, passionate marriage starts to unravel as the story moves toward its shocking finale.
£12.74
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Dark Rooms
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£20.79
HarperCollins Publishers Inc In Big Trouble
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£15.29
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Sunset City
Book SynopsisA taut, erotically charged literary noir set in Houston about a woman caught up in her friend’s shocking murder, and the dark truths she uncovers.Before the drugs, Danielle Reeves was Charlotte Ford’s most loyal and vibrant friend. She helped Charlotte through her mother’s illness and death, and opened up about her own troubled family. The two friends were inseparable, reveling in Houston’s shadowy corners. But then Danielle’s addiction got the best of her and she went to prison for four years. When she gets out, she and Charlotte reconnect. Charlotte hopes this is a new start for their friendship.But then, a detective shows up at Charlotte’s apartment. Danielle has been murdered, bludgeoned to death.Overwhelmed by grief, Charlotte is determined to understand how the most alive person she has ever known could end up dead. But the deeper Charlotte descends into Danielle’s dark world, the less she understands. Was Danielle
£13.59
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Fallout
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£9.50
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Shell Game
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£8.13
HarperCollins Publishers Inc The Last Gig
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£10.79
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Sick Like That Alessandra Martillo Mystery
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£11.39
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Chicago A Novel of Prohibition
Book SynopsisTrade Review“All the trademarks of a Mamet production — electric dialogue and a hurtling pace.” -- New York TimesAs if Cormac McCarthy had decamped from Southwest to Midwest…Chicago feels like one of the great American male novelists of the late 20th century — Updike, Mailer, Bellow, Roth—trying his hand at writing a genre novel. But unlike those novelists’ somewhat less sure-footed lunges…Mamet lands this with aplomb. -- Los Angeles Times“Splendid… a riveting crime drama in a throwback journalistic world, a time when you could yell for a copy boy to bring you Dixie cups for your illegal liquor. But this novel has a romantic heart, and the emotional stakes complement the whiskey-drenched whodunit.” -- USA Today“Tommy guns, bootleggers and hard-living newsmen: David Mamet adds a vivid novel to a legendary tradition.” -- Wall Street Journal“Chicago is tremendous fun, with much to savour.” -- The Times Literary Supplement“Acclaimed playwright (Glengarry Glen Ross) and screenwriter (The Untouchables) Mamet unpacks his literary arsenal in his first novel in two decades…. Mamet offers a master class on dialogue…. For readers of Elmore Leonard and Dennis Lehane. -- Booklist (starred review)“The story moves at a careening pace… Of a piece with character studies such as E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime and John Sayles’ Eight Men Out, Mamet’s book does Chicago—and organized crime—proud. An evocative, impressive return that Mamet fans will welcome.” -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)“Full of twists and surprises…Mamet’s new novel is a treasure, a piece of fictitious history entrenched in an era of violence and love.” -- Harvard Crimson“The finest American writer of his generation.” -- Sunday Mail
£21.59
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Shell Game
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£25.19
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Love Other Crimes
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£15.29
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Dead Land
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£24.79
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Nothing to Lose
Book SynopsisIn the end, Beaumont’s plea and Jared’s quick action saved the two boys from their father’s murderous rage.Now, almost twenty years later, Jared reappears in Beau’s life seeking his help once again—his younger brother Chris is missing.Trade Review“[A] mystery with heart . . . readers . . . will savor every word . . . Jance should win new fans with this one.” — Publishers Weekly on Sins of the Fathers “J. A. does an outstanding job of delivering a very emotional book, wrapped up within a mystery that keeps the reader on edge to the very end.” — Suspense Magazine on Sins of the Fathers “J. A. Jance is one of the best at combining mystery and family dynamics. J. P. Beaumont . . . is a character occasionally afflicted with angst, depression, and guilt, but not so much that he becomes tiresome. Rather, he becomes human, with all the temptations, missteps, failures, and ultimately successes, large and small, that most share.” — New York Journal of Books on Sins of the Fathers “Fans of police procedurals with a Southwestern flair will love Joanna’s determination to manage marriage, motherhood, and policing in this 19th Joanna Brady book.” — Library Journal on Missing and Endangered “The two parallel cases provide plenty of action, while keeping a premium on character studies and violence to a minimum. Once again, the compassionate, intelligent Joanna balances a busy home life and a complex job with aplomb. This long-running series consistently entertains.” — Publishers Weekly on Missing and Endangered
£23.11
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Nothing to Lose CD
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£29.99
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Blessing of the Lost Girls
Book SynopsisIndigenous women have become his target of choice, knowing law enforcement’s history of ignoring their disappearances.A cold case has just been assigned to Dan Pardee, a field officer with the newly formed Missing and Murdered Indigenous People’s Task Force.Trade Review“Fans of police procedurals with a Southwestern flair will love Joanna’s determination to manage marriage, motherhood, and policing in this 19th Joanna Brady book.” — Library Journal on Missing and Endangered “The two parallel cases provide plenty of action, while keeping a premium on character studies and violence to a minimum. Once again, the compassionate, intelligent Joanna balances a busy home life and a complex job with aplomb. This long-running series consistently entertains.” — Publishers Weekly on Missing and Endangered “This is the J.A. Jance I love. Her characterizations and ability to spin a tale keep you turning pages well into the night.” — Book Reporter on Nothing to Lose “J. A. does an outstanding job of delivering a very emotional book, wrapped up within a mystery that keeps the reader on edge to the very end.” — Suspense Magazine on Sins of the Fathers “Bestseller Jance’s enjoyable 25th J.P. Beaumont mystery…J.P. is a fully developed character, and his frequent calls to [his wife] Melissa to discuss the case are both touching and insightful. They make a good team even at a distance. New readers will happily join the ranks of longtime fans.” — Publishers Weekly on Nothing to Lose
£19.00
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Nothing to Lose
Book SynopsisIn the end, Beaumont’s plea and Jared’s quick action saved the two boys from their father’s murderous rage.Now, almost twenty years later, Jared reappears in Beau’s life seeking his help once again—his younger brother Chris is missing.Trade Review“[A] mystery with heart . . . readers . . . will savor every word . . . Jance should win new fans with this one.” — Publishers Weekly on Sins of the Fathers “J. A. does an outstanding job of delivering a very emotional book, wrapped up within a mystery that keeps the reader on edge to the very end.” — Suspense Magazine on Sins of the Fathers “J. A. Jance is one of the best at combining mystery and family dynamics. J. P. Beaumont . . . is a character occasionally afflicted with angst, depression, and guilt, but not so much that he becomes tiresome. Rather, he becomes human, with all the temptations, missteps, failures, and ultimately successes, large and small, that most share.” — New York Journal of Books on Sins of the Fathers “Fans of police procedurals with a Southwestern flair will love Joanna’s determination to manage marriage, motherhood, and policing in this 19th Joanna Brady book.” — Library Journal on Missing and Endangered “The two parallel cases provide plenty of action, while keeping a premium on character studies and violence to a minimum. Once again, the compassionate, intelligent Joanna balances a busy home life and a complex job with aplomb. This long-running series consistently entertains.” — Publishers Weekly on Missing and Endangered
£8.54
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Dead Land
Book SynopsisNAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST“A proper hero for these times . . . To us, V.I. is perfect.” — THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW Sara Paretsky’s gloriously kick-ass private eye, V.I. “Vic” Warshawski, is back . . . in a political-rot thriller that’s the definition of perfection in the genre. — THE WASHINGTON POSTChicago’s legendary detective, V.I. Warshawski, knows her city’s rotten underbelly better than most, but she’s unable to avoid it when her goddaughter drags her into a fight over lakefront land use, in this propulsive novel from New York Times bestseller Sara Paretsky.Chicago may be the city of broad shoulders, but its political law is “Pay to Play.” Money changes hands in the middle of the night, and by morning, buildings and parks are replaced by billion-dollar projects.Chicago PI V.I. Warshawski gets pulled into one of these clandestine deals through her impetuous goddaughter, Bernie Fouchard. Bernie tries to rescue Lydia Zamir, a famed singer-songwriter now living on the streets; Zamir’s life fell apart when her lover was murdered next to her in a mass shooting at an outdoor concert. Not only does Bernie plunge her and V.I. headlong into the path of some ruthless developers, they lead to the murder of the young man Bernie is dating. He’s a computer geek working for a community group called SLICK.V.I. is desperate to find a mysterious man named Coop, who roams the lakefront in the middle of the night with his dog. She’s sure he holds the key to the mounting body count within SLICK. Coop may even know why an international law firm is representing the mass murderer responsible for Lydia’s lover’s death. Instead, the detective finds a terrifying conspiracy stretching from Chicago’s parks to a cover-up of the dark chapters in America’s meddling in South American politics. Before she finds answers, this electrifying novel pushes V.I. close to the breaking point: People who pay to play take no prisoners.
£14.44
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Darkness Take My Hand
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£15.29
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Prayers for Rain
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£15.29
HarperCollins Publishers Inc The Drop
Book SynopsisTrade Review“Lehane…is a master of the sort of deadpan-noir pioneered by the late Elmore Leonard… It’s a style full of dark situational humor, sudden mayhem and quirky regional grammar.” — Wall Street Journal “This book is as authentically grounded in place as his earlier works and more pleasurable than any tie-in novelization…has a right to be. And The Drop benefits from bracing blasts of Lehane-ian humor.” — Boston Globe “Understated and perfectly paced….What makes The Drop so good is not just the pacing, which is just about right, but the mood…. There’s also the very stylish writing. — Philadelphia Inquirer “A tight, gritty little tale of working-class crime in Boston… Lehane breathes pulsing life into his story through the small details of his stoop-shouldered characters’ lives, investing their every mannerism with unspoken emotion and the weight of too many bad decisions, all of which makes Bob’s transformation from quiet desperation to quiet determination a powerful kind of existential drama.” — Booklist (starred review) “The bard of blue-collar Boston crime returns with a sleight-of-hand novel tinged with sin and redemption.” — Kirkus Reviews
£13.42
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Breach of Duty
Book SynopsisFor the first time as a premium edition, a reissue of the fourteenth J. P. Beaumont novel by New York Times bestselling author J. A. Jance. Trade Review“Jance, as usual, relates a clean and tightly woven plot distinguished by authentic dialogue, honest emotions and characters readers will care about.” — Publishers Weekly on Breach of Duty “J. A. does an outstanding job of delivering a very emotional book, wrapped up within a mystery that keeps the reader on edge to the very end.” — Suspense Magazine on Sins of the Fathers “[A] mystery with heart . . . readers . . . will savor every word . . . Jance should win new fans with this one.” — Publishers Weekly on Sins of the Fathers “J. A. Jance is one of the best at combining mystery and family dynamics. J. P. Beaumont . . . is a character occasionally afflicted with angst, depression, and guilt, but not so much that he becomes tiresome. Rather, he becomes human, with all the temptations, missteps, failures, and ultimately successes, large and small, that most share.” — New York Journal of Books on Sins of the Fathers “The two parallel cases provide plenty of action, while keeping a premium on character studies and violence to a minimum. Once again, the compassionate, intelligent Joanna balances a busy home life and a complex job with aplomb. This long-running series consistently entertains.” — Publishers Weekly on Missing and Endangered “Jance has brought us yet another winner!” — Dallas Morning News “One of the country’s most popular mystery writers.” — The Oregonian (Portland) “A dillusioned, cynical hero in the classic hard-boiled tradition.” — Journal-American Praise for J.A. Jance: “Jance delivers a devilish page-turner.” — People “J.A. Jance does not disappoint her fans.” — Washington Times “Suspenseful, action-packed.” — Dallas Morning News “Taut . . . entertaining.” — Entertainment Weekly “Credible and entertaining.” — Orlando Sentinel
£7.99
HarperCollins Publishers Inc Blessing of the Lost Girls
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£25.50
Vintage Publishing Stamboul Train
Book SynopsisGraham Greene was born in 1904. He worked as a journalist and critic, and in 1940 became literary editor of the Spectator. He was later employed by the Foreign Office. As well as his many novels, Graham Greene wrote several collections of short stories, four travel books, six plays, three books of autobiography, two of biography and four books for children. He also wrote hundreds of essays, and film and book reviews. Graham Greene was a member of the Order of Merit and a Companion of Honour. He died in April 1991.Trade ReviewHe taught us to look at each other with new eyes. I don't suppose his influence will ever disappear -- Auberon Waugh * Independent *Graham Greene had wit and grace and character and story and a transcendent universal compassion that places him for all time in the ranks of world literature -- John Le CarreNo serious writer of this century had more thoroughly invaded and shaped the public imagination than did Graham Greene * The Times *A tour de force... The realist and the romantic struggle with each other in this book, making it a kind of mental battlefield, inducing a sense of breathlessness and urgency -- L. P. HartleyOne of the most important British writers of the twentieth century - he brought something undeniably new to fiction * Daily Telegraph *
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd A Crime in the Neighborhood
Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE WOMEN''S PRIZE FOR FICTION''This ambitious account of a sudden coming of age reminded me strongly of To Kill a Mockingbird - and is every bit as moving and satisfying'' Daily TelegraphIn the long hot summer of 1972, three events shattered the serenity of ten-year-old Marsha''s life: her father ran away with her mother''s sister; a young boy called Boyd Ellison was molested and murdered; and Watergate made the headlines. Living in a world no longer safe or familiar, Marsha turns increasingly to ''the book of evidence'' in which she records the doings of the neighbors, especially of shy Mr Green next door. But as Marsha''s confusion and her murder hunt accelerate, her ''facts'' spread the damage cruelly and catastrophically throughout the neighborhood. ''It is impossible not to be completely swept along. Berne''s vision is gently humorous, ironic, quirky, and she writes with such piercing sensitivity . . . a c
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Penguin Books Ltd The Big Sleep and Other Novels
Book SynopsisRaymond Thornton Chandler was born in Chicago in 1888, but moved to England with his family when he was twelve, where he attended Dulwich College, alma mater to some of the twentieth century's most renowned writers. Returning to America in 1912, he settled in California, worked in a number of jobs, and later married. It was during the Depression era that he seriously turned his hand to writing, and his first published story appeared in the pulp magazine Black Mask in 1933, followed six years later, when he was fifty, by his first novel, The Big Sleep. Chandler died in 1959, having established himself as the finest crime writer in America.
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd The Underground Man
Book SynopsisWhen a chance encounter makes him a witness to the abduction of a child, private detective Lew Archer can''t help but be drawn into the case, pursuing a trail that leads all too quickly to murder. While forest fires rage in the hills around Los Angeles, threatening the homes of some of the city''s wealthiest families, Archer unearths a hidden history of failed marriages, runaway children, and a man''s life consumed by a search for the father who abandoned him.Ross Macdonald''s Lew Archer mysteries rewrote the conventions of the detective novel with their credible, humane hero, and with Macdonald''s insight and moral complexity won new literary respectability for the hardboiled genre previously pioneered by Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. They have also received praise from such celebrated writers as William Goldman, Jonathan Kellerman, Eudora Welty and Elmore Leonard.Trade ReviewI love the Lew Archer books. -- James EllroyThe finest series of detective novels ever written by an American. -- William GoldmanA more serious and complex writer than Chandler and Hammett ever were -- Eudora WeltyAmerica's greatest crime writer -- Elmore LeonardRoss MacDonald is very important to me. I love the Lew Archer books -- James Ellroy
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Penguin Books Ltd The Drowning Pool
Book SynopsisWhen Maude Slocum - beautiful, frightened and angry - comes to Lew Archer's office with a poison pen letter intended for her husband, he reluctantly agrees to help her. As he follows the Slocums around, Archer finds that Mrs Slocum might have the least of the family's troubles. But why is their handsome ex-chauffeur still hanging around?Trade ReviewThe American private eye, immortalised Hammett, refined by Chandler, brought to its zenith by Macdonald * The New York Times Book Review *
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Penguin Random House India The Phoenix
Book SynopsisAryaman Khanna, ex-intelligence officer, released from prison, seeks wife's attackers in Mumbai. On a secret mission to stop bioweapon strike by terror group on 26/11 anniversary. Tale of espionage, global terror, hope, and love for family and country.
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Penguin Books Ltd The Unloved
Book SynopsisA hypnotising summer novel from the twice Booker-shortlisted author of Hot Milk and Swimming Home_________________________________ A group of hedonistic West European tourists gather to celebrate Christmas in a remote French chateau. Then an Englishwoman is brutally murdered, and the sad, eerie child Tatiana declares she knows who did it. The subsequent inquiry into the death proves to be more of an investigation into the nature of love, insatiable rage and sadistic desire. The Unloved offers a bold and revealing look at some of the events that shaped European and African history, and the perils of a future founded on concealed truth. _________________________________''Brave and brilliant, measured and lyrical'' Independent''Levy''s prose throbs its way into the imagination'' Observer ''Startling, compelling, cool'' The Times ''
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Penguin Books Ltd Close to Home The impossible to put down Richard
Book SynopsisSomeone took Daisy Mason . . .Someone you know.--------''The last twist was a genuine stroke of genius'' John Marrs''A mazey, gripping read'' Ian Rankin''Compulsive'' Emma Kavanagh Last night, eight-year-old Daisy Mason disappeared from a family party. No one in the quiet suburban street saw anything - or at least that''s what they''re saying. DI Adam Fawley is trying to keep an open mind. But he knows the nine times out of ten, it''s someone the victim knew. That means someone is lying... And that Daisy''s time is running out.The first twisty, up-all-night thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling Cara Hunter. For fans of Shari Lapena, Claire Douglas and Lisa Jewell.--------Authors can''t get enough of Close to Home''One of the best crime thrillers I have ever read'' Kathryn Croft, The Lying WifTrade ReviewA pro, with admirable command of pace and rising tension * The Times *A breathtaking denouement * Sunday Times *Hunter keeps her readers guessing until the last page * Daily Express *I absolute loved how [Close to Home] was written - reminding me of the TV programme Broadchurch. A fast-paced, twisty-turny debut that had me dying to know whodunnit -- Mel Sheratt
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Liars Room
Book SynopsisTHE DARKLY ADDICTIVE THRILLER THAT READERS CAN''T STOP TALKING ABOUT. IF YOU LIKED WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, YOU''LL LOVE THIS ________________________________''Brilliantly chilling'' Cara Hunter, author of Close to Home and In the Dark''You''ll try to outguess the plot but always be one step behind'' C J Tudor________________________________ One Room. Two Liars. No Way Out FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE HOUSE, COMES THE NEW SPINE-TINGLING THRILLER YOU WON''T BE ABLE TO PUT DOWNSusanna Fenton has a secret. Fourteen years ago she left her identity behind, reinventing herself as a counsellor and starting a new life. It was the only way to keep her daughter safe. But everything changes when Adam Geraghty walks into her office. She''s never met this young man before - so why does she feel like she knows him?Then AdamTrade ReviewSIMON LELIC WRITES BEAUTIFULLY AND HE HAS A REAL TALENT FOR CHILLING STORIES THAT PLAY MERCILESSLY ON OUR MOST MOST DISTURBING FEARS -- Cara HunterA SUPERBLY WRITTEN AND WELL-CRAFTED THRILLER ... SIMON LELIC FUELS EACH PAGE WITH SUSPENSE AND INTRIGUE. IT WILL HAVE YOU UP ALL HOURS OF THE NIGHT ... JUST FABULOUS! -- Kathryn CroftA TENSE, ATMOSPHERIC THRILLER IN WHICH THE PAST HAUNTS THE PRESENT - AND THE LIES WE TELL OURSELVES COME BACK WITH A VENGEANCE. TAUT, UNSETTLING AND BRILLIANTLY DONE -- TM Logan, author of 'Lies'A WONDERFULLY CLAUSTROPHOBIC READ EXPOSING THE FAULT LINES IN FAMILIES AND THE TERRIBLE DANGER OF SECRETS -- Cath StaincliffeHAD ME IN A HEADLOCK FROM THE START & WOULDN'T LOOSEN ITS GRIP TILL THE LAST PAGE' -- John MarrsTENSE AND UNPUTDOWNABLE AS ANYTHING. A FANTASTIC READ -- Luca VesteBRILLIANT ... COMPLEX CHARACTERS THAT DRAW YOU IN AND WON'T LET YOU GO -- Amy Lloyd, author of 'The Innocent Wife'THE LIAR'S ROOM IS A BOOK YOU CAN'T WALK AWAY FROM -- Emma KavanaghBRILLIANTLY TENSE...YOU'LL TRY TO OUTGUESS THE PLOT BUT ALWAYS BE ONE STEP BEHIND AS THE SECRETS AND LIES GRADUALLY UNFOLD IN EVER MORE DARK AND DISTURBING WAYS -- C J Tudor'A DARKLY DISTURBING THRILLER THAT HOOKED ME FROM THE FIRST PAGE. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!' -- Nuala Ellwood, author of 'My Sister's Bones'AN INTRICATE AND POWERFUL THRILLER -- Tana French on 'The House'HUGELY GRIPPING AND SPOOKY AS HELL -- Mark Billingham on 'The House'TAUGHT, TENSE AND TERRIFYING, I LOVED IT -- Sharon Bolton on 'The House'PACKS IN THE CHILLS...READ IT -- Thriller of the Month * Observer *
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Penguin Books Ltd A Rage in Harlem Penguin Modern Classics
Book Synopsis''The greatest find in American crime fiction since Raymond Chandler'' Sunday TimesJackson''s woman has found him a foolproof way to make money - a technique for turning ten dollar bills into hundreds. But when the scheme somehow fails, Jackson is left broke, wanted by the police and desperately racing to get back both his money and his loving Imabelle.The first of Chester Himes''s novels featuring the hardboiled Harlem detectives Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones, A Rage in Harlem has swagger, brutal humour, lurid violence, a hearse loaded with gold and a conman dressed as a Sister of Mercy.With an Introduction by Luc SanteTrade ReviewOutrageous, shocking, wonderful * New York Times Book Review *Himes wrote spectacularly successful entertainments, filled with gems of descriptive writing, plots that barely sidestep chaos, characters surreal, grotesque, comic, hip, Harlem recollected as a place that can make you laugh, cry, shudder.Chester Himes is one of the towering figures of the black literary tradition. His command of nuances of character and dynamics of plot is preeminent among writers of crime fiction. He is a master craftsman.A fantasia with a hard brilliant core * Evening Standard *A fine crime writer of Chandlerian subtlety though in a vein of sheer toughness very much his own * The Times *Chester Himes is the great lost crime writer, as well a great American dissident novelist per se, and an essential witness to his times. Every one of his beyond-cool Harlem novels is cherished by every reader who finds it.Hieronymus Bosch meets Miles Davis * The New York Times *He belongs with those great demented realists ... whose writing pitilessly exposes the ridiculousness of the human conditionThat he could channel this pain and misery into some of the greatest crime novels ever written is a testament to his skill as a writer and his spirit as a man. If this is the first Chester Himes novel you will read then, believe me, you are in for a treat.
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Cotton Comes to Harlem
Book Synopsis''A bawdy, brazen rollercoaster of a novel . . . the wildest'' The New York TimesA preacher called Deke O''Malley''s been selling false hope: the promise of a glorious new life in Africa for just $1,000 a family. But when thieves with machine guns steal the proceeds - and send one man''s brain matter flying - the con is up. Now Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed mean to bring the good people of Harlem back their $87,000, however many corpses they have to climb over to get it.Cotton Comes to Harlem is a non-stop ride, with violence, sex, double-crosses, and the two baddest detectives ever to wear a badge in Harlem.With an Introduction by Will SelfTrade ReviewThe greatest find in American crime fiction since Raymond Chandler. * Sunday Times *A bawdy, brazen rollercoaster of a novel . . . the wildest. * New York Times Book Review *Chester Himes is one of the towering figures of the black literary tradition. His command of nuances of character and dynamics of plot is preeminent among writers of crime fiction. He is a master craftsman. -- Henry Louis Gates, Jr.A fantasia with a hard brilliant core. * Evening Standard *A fine crime writer ... in a vein of sheer toughness very much his own. * The Times *The greatest find in American crime fiction since Raymond Chandler * Sunday Times *A bawdy, brazen rollercoaster of a novel . . . the wildest * New York Times Book Review *Himes wrote spectacularly successful entertainments, filled with gems of descriptive writing, plots that barely sidestep chaos, characters surreal, grotesque, comic, hip, Harlem recollected as a place that can make you laugh, cry, shudder.Chester Himes is one of the towering figures of the black literary tradition. His command of nuances of character and dynamics of plot is preeminent among writers of crime fiction. He is a master craftsman.A fantasia with a hard brilliant core * Evening Standard *A fine crime writer of Chandlerian subtlety though in a vein of sheer toughness very much his own * The Times *That he could channel this pain and misery into some of the greatest crime novels ever written is a testament to his skill as a writer and his spirit as a man. If this is the first Chester Himes novel you will read then, believe me, you are in for a treat.He belongs with those great demented realists ... whose writing pitilessly exposes the ridiculousness of the human conditionHieronymus Bosch meets Miles Davis * The New York Times *Chester Himes is the great lost crime writer, as well a great American dissident novelist per se, and an essential witness to his times. Every one of his beyond-cool Harlem novels is cherished by every reader who finds it.
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Heats On
Book Synopsis''The greatest find in American crime fiction since Raymond Chandler'' Sunday TimesDetectives Coffin Ed and Grave Digger Jones have lost two criminals. Pinky ran off - but it shouldn''t be hard to track down a giant albino in Harlem. Jake the drug dealer, though, isn''t coming back - he died after Grave Digger punched him in the stomach. And his death might cost them both their badges. Unless they can track down the cause of all this mayhem - like the African with his throat slit and the dog the size of a lion with an open head wound.Chester Himes''s hardboiled tales of Harlem have a barely contained chaos and a visceral, macabre edge all their own.Trade ReviewThe greatest find in American crime fiction since Raymond Chandler * Sunday Times *Outrageous, shocking, wonderful * New York Times Book Review *Himes wrote spectacularly successful entertainments, filled with gems of descriptive writing, plots that barely sidestep chaos, characters surreal, grotesque, comic, hip, Harlem recollected as a place that can make you laugh, cry, shudder. -- John Edgar WidemanChester Himes is one of the towering figures of the black literary tradition. His command of nuances of character and dynamics of plot is preeminent among writers of crime fiction. He is a master craftsman. -- Henry Louis Gates, Jr.A fine crime writer of Chandlerian subtlety though in a vein of sheer toughness very much his own * The Times *Chester Himes is the great lost crime writer, as well a great American dissident novelist per se, and an essential witness to his times. Every one of his beyond-cool Harlem novels is cherished by every reader who finds it. -- Jonathan LethamHieronymus Bosch meets Miles Davis * The New York Times *He belongs with those great demented realists ... whose writing pitilessly exposes the ridiculousness of the human condition -- Will Self
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd In a Lonely Place
Book Synopsis''The new crime and espionage series from Penguin Classics makes for a mouth-watering prospect'' Daily TelegraphLos Angeles, the late 1940''s. A serial killer stalks the foggy streets at night ...Dix Steele, a former fighter pilot, moved to L.A. after the war, looking for a new life. But the city is gripped by fear of a murderer in its midst. Dix, however, is not scared. And when he bumps into his old friend Brub, now a detective on the trail of the culprit, he is excited to follow the police''s progress. A dark and terrible truth is revealed, in a noir novel like no other.Trade ReviewDorothy B. Hughes was in a class of her own. To be a female author of hard-boiled fiction back in the 1940s was unusual enough, but to write a first-person narrative from the viewpoint of a male serial killer was breaking new ground by anybody's standards. She marked out this territory years before most other writers even knew it existed. -- Max Decharne, author of Hardboiled Hollywood: The Origins of Great Crime Films
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd The Drowning Pool
Book Synopsis''The new crime and espionage series from Penguin Classics makes for a mouth-watering prospect'' Daily TelegraphMaude Slocum is in trouble. But luckily trouble is Investigator Lew Archer''s business.A well-dressed, wealthy woman has arrived at Archer''s L.A. office, having intercepted a poison pen letter accusing her of adultery. Reluctantly agreeing to help her find the culprit, he dives into the Slocums'' moneyed, oil-rich California world. But when Maude''s mother-in-law is found dead in the swimming pool, secrets come to the surface too. For the urbane, world-weary Archer, a case of blackmail soon becomes murder.
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Cotton Comes to Harlem
Book Synopsis''The new crime and espionage series from Penguin Classics makes for a mouth-watering prospect'' Daily TelegraphA con-man is swindling the poor folk of Harlem out of their life savings - and now all hell''s broken loose.The ''Reverend'' Deke O''Malley has just made $87,000 by duping his followers, only for white gunmen to hijack the rally and escape with the cash hidden inside a bale of cotton. Now ace detectives Grave Digger Jones and Coffin Ed Johnson must get the good people of Harlem their money back by any means necessary, in a raucous, breakneck adventure involving double-crosses, exotic dancers, a racist colonel and a whole pile of bodies...Trade ReviewThe greatest find in American crime fiction since Raymond Chandler. * Sunday Times *A bawdy, brazen rollercoaster of a novel . . . the wildest. * New York Times Book Review *Chester Himes is one of the towering figures of the black literary tradition. His command of nuances of character and dynamics of plot is preeminent among writers of crime fiction. He is a master craftsman. -- Henry Louis Gates, Jr.A fantasia with a hard brilliant core. * Evening Standard *A fine crime writer ... in a vein of sheer toughness very much his own. * The Times *
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Sleeping Dog
Book SynopsisDiscover the new Penguin Crime and Espionage seriesFor the unlikely crime-busting duo Leo and Serendipity, a missing dog is only the start of their troubles...Leo Bloodworth, ''the Bloodhound'', is a world-weary L.A. gumshoe with a reputation for finding anything - and a low tolerance of precocious teenagers. Serendipity Dahlquist is a precocious teenager. When the headstrong, roller-skating fourteen-year-old asks Bloodworth to help track down her lost dog Groucho, it leads this oddest of odd couples into the dark criminal underworld of the Mexican mafia, and into more trouble than they''d bargained for.
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Trouble is My Business Raymond Chandler
Book Synopsis''I need a man good-looking enough to pick up a dame who has a sense of class, but he''s got to be tough enough to swap punches with a power shovel.'' In the first of the four cases in Trouble is My Business, Los Angeles PI Philip Marlowe is offered a job that leaves a bad taste in the mouth: smearing a girl who''s ''got her hooks into a rich man''s pup''. Before too long Marlowe''s up to his neck in corpses and cops and he''s taken pity on the girl. There''s nothing like making trouble out of your business . . .The four novellas collected here are quintessential Raymond Chandler: slick, crystal-clear writing that pins the reader to the seat and won''t let go until the last page is turned.''Age does not wither Chandler''s prose'' Literary Review''Chandler''s prose flies off the pages like a burst from a Tommy gun. Chandler was perhaps the finest exponent of the fledgling genre now known as pulp fiction'' Scottish Field
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Killer in the Rain
Book SynopsisBest-known as the creator of the original private eye, Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler was born in Chicago in 1888 and died in 1959. Many of his books have been adapted for the screen, and he is widely regarded as one of the very greatest writers of detective fiction.Trade ReviewRaymond Chandler is a star of the first magnitude -- Erle Stanley Gardner[T]he prose rises to heights of unselfconscious eloquence, and we realize with a jolt of excitement that we are in the presence of not a mere action tale teller, but a stylist, a writer with a vision -- Joyce Carol Oates * New York Review of Books *Raymond Chandler is a master * New York Times *Anything Chandler writes about grips the mind from the first sentence * Daily Telegraph *Nobody can write like Chandler on his home turf, not even Faulkner. . . A great artist * The Boston Book Review *
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd Day of the Accident
Book Synopsis WHAT DID YOU SEE? WHAT DID YOU DO? ''Gripping, poignant...I read it in one sitting'' ROSAMUND LUPTON''Brilliantly compulsive and with one hell of a twist!'' CLAIRE DOUGLAS____________________________Sixty seconds after she wakes from a coma, Maggie''s world is torn apart.The police tell her that her daughter Elspeth is dead. That she drowned when the car Maggie had been driving plunged into the river. Maggie remembers nothing.When Maggie begs to see her husband Sean, the police tell her that he has disappeared. He was last seen on the day of her daughter''s funeral.What really happened that day at the river?Where is Maggie''s husband?And why can''t she shake the suspicion that somewhere, somehow... her daughter is still alive? An emotional page-turner with amazing characters from the Top Ten bestselling author of My Sister''s Bones, this tTrade ReviewA stunning book. Compelling, unsettling and powerful -- C. L. TaylorYou won't see the big twist coming in this haunting thriller. A worthy successor to My Sister's Bones * Daily Express *Memorable, jaw-dropping * Sunday Times *Compelling and intriguing, right from the very first page -- Sharon BoltonA clever, twisty plot that takes psychological mind games to a new level. Nuala Ellwood has done it again! -- Jane CorryThe Day of the Accident had me gasping for breath and on the verge of tears from the get-go. Twisty, haunting, and completely heart-wrenching, you won't breathe until you've turned the very last page. -- Carolyn Jess-CookeGrabbed me on the first page and didn't let go * Woman and Home *Gripping, engrossing and surprising at every turn -- Rowan ColemanA raw, shocking, and serpentine mystery that keeps you guessing until the very end -- Nicolas Obregon, author of 'Blue Light Yokohama'This book will take all your expectations and upend them, making you question everything you thought you knew -- Emma Kavanagh Twisty and unpredictable. Kept me guessing until the end -- Karen Cleveland, author of 'Need to Know'Absolutely brilliant - exciting, clever, it deserves to be a bestseller -- Priscilla Masters
£17.09
Random House USA Inc We All Fall Down
Book SynopsisA light bulb falls in a subway tunnel, releasing a deadly pathogen. Within hours, a homeless man, a cop, and then dozens more start to die. Hospitals become morgues. El trains become rolling hearses. Chicago is on the verge of chaos before the mayor finally acts, quarantining entire sections of the city. Meanwhile, private investigator and former cop Michael Kelly hunts for the people responsible. The search takes him into the tangled underworld of Chicago’s West Side gangs and cops on the take, and the terrifying world of black biology—an elite field operating covertly at the nation’s top labs, where scientists play God and will do anything necessary to keep their secrets safe.
£7.59
Random House USA Inc Let the Devil Sleep Dave Gurney No. 3
Book Synopsis
£14.80
Random House USA Inc Perfidia
Book SynopsisNATIONAL BESTSELLER AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEARLos Angeles. December, 1941. America stands at the brink of World War II. War fever and racial hatred grip the city. The hellish murder of a Japanese family summons three men and one woman. LAPD captain William H. Parker is superbly gifted, corrosively ambitious, liquored-up, and consumed by dubious ideology. He is bitterly at odds with Sergeant Dudley Smith—Irish émigré, ex-IRA killer, fledgling war profiteer. Hideo Ashida is a police chemist and the only Japanese on the L.A. cop payroll. Kay Lake is a twenty-one-year-old dilettante looking for adventure. The investigation throws them together and rips them apart. The crime becomes a political storm center that brilliantly illuminates these four driven souls—comrades, rivals, lovers, history’s pawns. Here, Ellroy gives us the party at the edge of the abyss and the precipice of America&rsqu
£15.26
Random House USA Inc This Storm
Book SynopsisJanuary '42. L.A. reels behind the shock of Pearl Harbor. Local Japanese residents are rounded up and slammed behind bars. Massive thunderstorms hit the city.A body is unearthed in Griffith Park. The cops tag it a routine dead-man job. They're wrong. It's an early-warning signal of Chaos.There's a murderous fire and a gold heist. There's Fifth Column treason on American soil. There are homegrown Nazis, Commies, and race racketeers. It's populism ascendant. There's two dead cops in a dive off the jazz-club strip. And three men and one woman have a hot date with history.Elmer Jackson is a corrupt Vice cop. He's a flesh peddler and a bagman for the L.A. Chief of Police. Hideo Ashida is a crime-lab whiz, lashed by anti-Japanese rage. Dudley Smith is PD hardnose working Army Intelligence. He's gone rogue and gone all-the-way fascist. Joan Conville was born rogue. She's a defrocked Navy lieutenant and a war profiteer to her core.L.A. '42. Homefront madness. Wartime inferno--This Storm is James Ellroy's most audacious novel yet. It is by turns savage, tender, elegiac. It lays bare and celebrates crazed Americans of all stripes. It is a masterpiece.
£15.30
St Martin's Press A is for Alibi
Book SynopsisREAD THE SENSATIONAL BLOCKBUSTER THAT STARTED IT ALL!Take it from the top in #1 New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton's knockout thriller that introduced detective Kinsey Millhone-and a hot new attitude-to crime fiction...A IS FOR AVENGERA tough-talking former cop, private investigator Kinsey Millhone has set up a modest detective agency in a quiet corner of Santa Teresa, California. A twice-divorced loner with few personal possessions and fewer personal attachments, she's got a soft spot for underdogs and lost causes.A IS FOR ACCUSEDThat's why she draws desperate clients like Nikki Fife. Eight years ago, she was convicted of killing her philandering husband. Now she's out on parole and needs Kinsey's help to find the real killer. But after all this time, clearing Nikki's bad name won't be easy.A IS FOR ALIBIIf there's one thing that makes Kinsey Millhone feel alive, it's playing on
£8.54
St Martin's Press D Is for Deadbeat
Book Synopsis
£8.54
